Growing on the Night for the 4th Straight Week, ABC Draws its Biggest Tuesday Audience in 6 Weeks and Hits a Season High with Adults 18-49
The No. 1 TV Show of the Night in Adults 18-49 and the Top Series Debut of the TV Season, ABC’s “V” Emerges as the Strongest Regular 8pm Opener Since “Lost”
Tuesday’s Most-Watched Unscripted Series, “DWTS the Results” Tops “Loser” by 5 Million Viewers at 9pm and Beats Fox’s “Dance” by a Best-Yet 29% in Adults 18-49
ABC’s “the forgotten” Outdraws NBC’s “Leno” by 1.7 Million Viewers, Posting A Best-Since-Premiere Adult 18-34 Number and a Series-High with Men 18-34
Tuesday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)
Growing its numbers over the previous Tuesday for the 4th week in a row, ABC registered its biggest audience (12.0 million) on the night in 6 weeks and hit a season-high with Adults 18-49 (3.3/9). ABC placed No. 1 on Tuesday night among Adults 18-34, Men 18-34 and Men 18-49.
“V” (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
Opposite stiff established original competition in Tuesday’s 8 o’clock hour, including CBS’ top-rated “NCIS,” NBC’s “Biggest Loser” and Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance,” ABC’s “V” opened a strong No. 1 in Adults 18-49, soaring to the top of its slot and leading second-place CBS’ “NCIS” by 19% (5.0/13 vs. 4.2/11). In fact it was the first time in more than 5 years that an ABC scripted series defeated an original “NCIS” (since 10/5/04). The show won its hour by an even wider margin among Adults 18-34, leading “NCIS” by 28% (4.1/12 vs. 3.2/9). In a good sign for future viewing the new ABC drama generated tune-in throughout its premiere, growing in both Total Viewers (13.8 million to 14.1 million) and Adults 18-49 (4.9/13 to 5.1/13) from its first half-hour to its second half-hour. Self-starter “V” stood as Tuesday’s No. 1 TV show across the key Adult demos (AD18-34/AD18-49/AD25-54).
“V” stands as the TV Seasons’ highest-rated new series debut with Adults 18-49.
“V” marked ABC’s strongest performance in the time period among Adults 18-49 in 3 years (any programming) – since 11/14/06. In addition, the new drama produced ABC’s highest non-sports numbers in the hour in 6 years across the key Men demos (M18-34/M18-49/M25-54) – since 11/4/03.
Topping CBS’ spinoff “NCIS: LA” series debut in September by 14% (5.0/13 vs. 4.4/11 – which had the added advantage of airing out of the season opener of “NCIS”), “V” qualified as the top-rated Tuesday night fall series debut among Adults 18-49 on any network since 2005 and ABC’s highest since 2003 – since 9/20/05 and since 9/23/03, respectively.
“V” opened with the highest Adult 18-49 rating for a regularly slotted 8:00 p.m. drama debut (any net/any night) since ABC’s “Lost” in September 2004 (9/22/04).
“Dancing with the Stars the Results Show” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Tuesday’s most-watched unscripted TV show, ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars the Results Show” outdrew NBC’s “Biggest Loser” in direct competition during 9 o’clock hour by 5.0 million viewers (14.5 million vs. 9.5 million), tying its biggest advantage of the season. In addition, the ABC dance competition dominated Fox’s dance program in the hour, beating the second hour of “So You Think You Can Dance” by 8.7 million viewers (14.5 million vs. 5.8 million) and by a best-yet 29% in Adults 18-49 (3.1/8 vs. 2.4/6).
“DWTS the Results” was up week to week among Adults 18-49 and hit a season-high with Adults 18-34.
“the forgotten” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
Taking second to CBS’ “The Good Wife” in the 10 o’clock hour, ABC’s “the forgotten” topped NBC’s “Jay Leno” for the 4th straight week and by 1.7 million viewers (7.6 million vs. 5.9 million).
“the forgotten” posted a best-since-debut Adult 18-34 rating (1.4/4) and hit a series-high with Men 18-34 (1.2/4-tie).
“the forgotten” is generating substantial increases over its first-reported numbers through DVR playback, picking up an average 1.1 million viewers and an additional 4-tenths of an Adult 18-49 rating point (+14%) from the initially reported Live + Same Day Numbers to the Live + 7 Day DVR finals.
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 more than 33% currently, from 28% at the same point in 2008. 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 release and Nielsen Media Research (Fast Affiliate, Live + Same Day Ratings), 11/3/09. DVR Playback = 9/21-10/18/09)
