With Half its Line-Up in Replay, ABC Outdraws NBC’s All-Original Sunday Schedule.
ABC’s “America’s Funniest Home Videos” Finishes No. 1 in Adults 18-49 for its 3rd Straight Telecast.
ABC’s “Secret Millionaire” Wins its Slot for the 2nd Week in a Row, Beating CBS’ Veteran “Amazing Race” and Overshadowing NBC’s “Next Great Restaurant” .
“Secret Millionaire” Exhibits Strong Retention of its Week-Ago Premiere Audience and Generates Big Year-to-Year Time Period Gains for ABC.
ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” Marks its Most-Watched Repeat this Season.
Sunday Night (7:00-11:00 p.m.)
With half of its line-up airing in repeat (“Housewives”/”Brothers & Sisters”), ABC ran as the 2nd-most-watched network on Sunday evening, outdrawing NBC’s all-original schedule (6.7 million vs. 6.4 million).
Please Note: With the change to Daylight Savings time, overall Adult 18-49 TV usage declined on Sunday night by -6% from the prior week (34.5 vs. 36.6).
“America’s Funniest Home Videos” (7:00-8:00 p.m.)
ABC’s America’s Funniest Home Videos finished No. 1 among Adults 18-49 (1.7/6-tie) during the 7 o’clock hour for its 3rd straight telecast. Also leading in Adults 18-34 (1.2/5) and Women 18-34 (1.3/5), “AFV” matched its best numbers since the end of January on both counts – since 1/30/11.
“Secret Millionaire” (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
Once again building sharply on its lead-in at 8pm in Total Viewers (+3.9 million) and Adults 18-49 (+59%), ABC’s “Secret Millionaire” (11.3 million and 2.7/8) won its time period for the 2nd week in a row in viewers and young adults, beating out CBS’ veteran “Amazing Race XVIII” (9.4 million 2.6/8). In addition, ABC’s freshman “Secret Millionaire” towered over its freshman competition in Sunday’s 8 o’clock hour, outperforming NBC’s “America’s Next Great Restaurant” (4.2 million and 1.4/4) by 169% in Total Viewers and by 93% in Adults 18-49. “Secret Millionaire” tied as the #2 TV show on Sunday among Adults 18-49.
“Secret Millionaire” retained an impressive 89% of its substantial week-ago debut audience (11.3 million vs. 12.7 million).
Compared to the same night last year with original programming in the time period (8.7 million and 2.3/6 on 3/14/10), “Secret Millionaire” grew the hour year to year for ABC by 30% in Total Viewers and by 17% in Adults 18-49.
“Desperate Housewives” (9:00-10:01 p.m.)
In the 9 o’clock hour, ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” (4.9 million) generated its most-watched repeat telecast this season.
A note about increasing DVR penetration and year-to-year rating comparisons: Year-to-year rating comparisons based on the Live + Same Day data stream are distorted by the level of DVR penetration in the Nielsen sample, which has jumped up to 40% currently, from 36% at the same point in 2010. More viewers are watching shows on their own timetables, which may not be reflected in the overnight next day numbers. The only truly valid year-to-year comparison would be one based on the Live + 7 Day metric, once those stats are released by Nielsen.
(Source: ABC – The Nielsen Company (Fast Affiliate, Live + Same Day Ratings), 3/13/11)
