Overall: During the week of October 11, 2010, ABC took second place among Total Viewers, while ranking #1 with key Women: W18-34/W18-49). The Net ranked #1 among Women 18-34 for the 4th time in 4 weeks this season. Rankings: ABC’s Modern Family stood as the #1 scripted TV show during the week for the 2nd week in a row in Adults 18-49, while Grey’s Anatomy ranked as the week’s #1 drama in young adults. ABC once again delivered more Top 10 TV shows than any other network, placing 4 of the weekly Top 10 in Adults 18-49: Modern Family – #3 (#1 scripted show), Grey’s Anatomy – #5 (#1 drama), Dancing with the Stars – #9 (#1 unscripted series for the 4th consecutive week) and Desperate Housewives – #10. For the 4th straight week this season, ABC’s Dancing with the Stars qualified as America’s most-watched TV show overall.
Monday: ABC stood as the most-watched network on Monday night for the 4th week in a row. During prime, ABC bettered CBS by a 6.2 million viewers and by 3% in Adults 18-49. Growing its Monday results year to year for the 4th straight week, ABC was up over the same night last season (10/12/09) by 2.1 million viewers and by 13% in Adults 18-49. ABC’s Dancing with the Stars won its 2-hour time-slot for the 4th time in 4 weeks with Total Viewers and across all key Women demos (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54). DWTS topped CBS’ original comedy block by 9.3 million viewers and by 11% in Adults 18-49. Season to date, DWTS is improving substantially over its year-ago averages by 3.3 million viewers and by 21% among Adults 18-49. Standing as Monday’s only network program to grow week-to-week among young adults, ABC’s Castle turned in its most-competitive performance ever against CBS’ high-profile reboot, Hawaii Five-0, in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49. In addition, Castle outperformed the CBS drama for the first time among Adults 18-34 (+18%). ABC’s Castle beat NBC’s Chase by its largest margins to date in both Total Viewers (+118%) and Adults 18-49 (+80%). Castle was up over its performance on the same night last year for the 4th consecutive telecast, growing by 9% in Total Viewers and by 17% in Adults 18-49. In fact, compared to the same point last season, Castle is up by 1.3 million viewers and by 12% in Adults 18-49.
Tuesday: Bolstered by its new Tuesday schedule, ABC tallied strong year-to-year gains for the 3rd consecutive week, building on the same night last year (10/13/09) by 1.4 million viewers and by 14% in Adults 18-49. In fact ABC was the only net to see its Tuesday numbers improve year to year in viewers and young adults. ABC qualified as the 2nd-most-watched network overall on Tuesday to CBS, outdrawing Fox by 2.2 million viewers and NBC by 4.0 million viewers. In one of the most-competitive hours on TV this season (opposite Fox’s Glee, CBS’ NCIS and NBC’s The Biggest Loser), ABC freshman No Ordinary Family topped NBC’s time-period established The Biggest Loser by 1.0 million viewers. Building audience in the opening hour of the evening, self-starter No Ordinary Family increased in Total Viewers (+5%) and Adults 18-49 (+9%) from its first half-hour to its second half-hour. Growing its time slot by wide margins year to year on all 3 of its telecasts, on average No Ordinary Family is improving the hour for ABC by 4.1 million viewers and by 80% in Adults 18-49 from the same point last season. Building on its lead-in and picking up audience throughout its telecast against tough competition, ABC’s Dancing with the Stars: The Results Show finished #1 in the 9pm hour among Total Viewers (4 weeks in a row) and Adults 18-49 (3rd time in 4 weeks), while dominating the slot in Adults 18-34 and across all key Women demos (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54). In addition, the ABC show held big advantages over its unscripted competition in the time period, defeating The Biggest Loser by 8.7 million viewers and by 21% in Adults 18-49. Reality television star Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino was the fourth celebrity eliminated from the dance competition this season. DWTS: The Results Show was up week to week among Adults 18-34 (+18%) and Adults 18-49 (+6%). The ABC dancing results show continues to trend well ahead of its year-ago performance, up on average this season by 4.0 million viewers and by 36% in Adults 18-49 from the same point a year ago. Opposite CBS’ sophomore The Good Wife, ABC’s freshman Detroit 1-8-7 was once again the 2nd-most-watched TV show in the 10 o’clock hour, outdrawing NBC’s sophomore drama Parenthood for the 4th consecutive week (+2.3 million viewer advantage). The new ABC series also beat out its NBC drama competition for the 4th week running with key Men (M18-49/M25-54).
Wednesday: Continuing to generate year-to-year improvement on the evening, ABC increased its numbers over the same Wednesday last year (10/14/09) by 12% in Total Viewers and by 17% in Adults 18-49. In fact it was ABC’s 3rd time in 3 nights this week to outperform the year-ago evening. Producing its 2nd straight week of Adult 18-49 growth, the Net was up 8% over the previous Wednesday, hitting its best number since season-premiere Wednesday on 9/22/10. At 8pm, ABC’s The Middle stood as the 2nd-most-watched TV show overall in the half-hour to CBS’ Survivor: Nicaragua, outdrawing Fox’s Hell’s Kitchen by 2.0 million viewers and NBC’s Undercovers by 2.2 million viewers. The sophomore comedy once again boosted its time-period for ABC, growing the half-hour by 1.8 million viewers and by 56% in Adults 18-49, from the year-ago night. On average this season, The Middle is up from performance at this point last year (when it had the added advantage of airing at 8:30pm, with higher overall viewing levels) in both viewers (+10%) and young adults (+8%). Showing solid lead-in retention for ABC at 8:30pm (84%), Better with You continued to overshadow its freshman competition in the half-hour with Adults 18-49, outdelivering NBC’s Undercovers by 40%. The ABC new comedy also drew a larger overall audience than the new NBC drama. In addition to its solid Adult 18-49 retention, the ABC freshman comedy held an even greater 94% of its Adult 18-34 lead-in. Qualifying as Wednesday’s definitive #1 TV show for the 4th time in 4 weeks this season, ABC’s Modern Family took full control of its 9pm time slot, beating out second-place CBS’ Criminal Minds by a season-best 37% in Adults 18-49. Bettering its year-ago performance for the 4th straight week, the ABC sophomore comedy surged over its delivery on the same night last year by 2.1 million viewers and 33% in Adults 18-49. On average in its sophomore season, Modern Family’s numbers are up over the same point last season by 17% in Total Viewers and by 24% in Adults 18-49. Growing week to week, Modern Family posted the series’ 2nd-highest-ever numbers among Adults 18-49 and Adults 18-34 (behind only its three-week-ago season premiere), while hitting a new series-high with Women 18-34. Building its numbers for the 2nd week in a row at 9:30pm, Cougar Town increased week to week by 7% in Adults 18-49, marking in the series’ 2nd-highest viewer and young adult numbers since January (behind only its season premiere) – since 1/20/10. For the 2nd week running, the ABC comedy finished a strong #1 in its time period with Women 18-34, beating its nearest competition by 21% (Fox’s Hell’s Kitchen). In fact the comedy series hit its 3rd-highest-ever rating in the key young women demo – best since September 2009. Cougar Town also finished #1 in its half-hour with Adults 18-34. In the 10 o’clock hour, ABC News’ A Special Edition of 20/20 – Miracle At The Mine drew the Network’s largest audience in the time period in 10 months – since 12/9/09.
Thursday: ABC took second place on Thursday in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, while finishing #1 on the evening for the 4th time in 4 weeks this season with Adults 18-34 and key Women demos (W18-34/W18-49). Jumping over its lead-in (+195% in Viewers/+318% in Adults 18-49), self-starter Grey’s Anatomy shot to the top of Thursday’s 9 o’clock hour to register as the #1 TV show on the evening for the 4th week in a row in Adults 18-49. In its time period, ABC’s Grey’s outdelivered NBC’s comedies by +44% (The Office/Outsourced), CBS’ CSI +48% and Fox’s Fringe by +130%. During the 10 o’clock hour, ABC’s Private Practice ran a strong second to CBS’ The Mentalist, beating out NBC’s The Apprentice by 4.4 million viewers and by 131% in Adults 18-49. For the 4th straight week, Private Practice dominated The Mentalist with Adults 18-34, outdelivering the CBS drama by 37%. Building its young adult audience for the 2nd week running, Private Practice posted its strongest performance since its season premiere (on 9/23/10) in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49.
Sunday: Airing against sports-driven competition on the night on NBC (Sunday Night Football) and Fox (NFL overrun/National League Championship Series – Game 2), ABC was up week to week in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49. At 7pm, ABC’s America’s Funniest Home Videos hit season-highs in Adults 18-34, Women 18-34, Teens 12-17 and Kids 12-17. Building on its lead-in at 8pm, ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition saw its audience grow over the previous week, while turning in a season-high performance among Teens 12-17 and Kids 2-11. Against stiff competition on the night, including another big Sunday Night Football match-up on NBC (Indianapolis Colts-Washington Redskins) and Game 2 of the NLCS on Fox, ABC’s Desperate Housewives registered as Sunday’s #1 entertainment TV show among Adults 18-49, for the 3rd week in a row. Housewives also finished #1 against its non-sports competition in its 9 o’clock time slot in viewers and young adults for the 2nd week running. Housewives stood as Sunday’s #1 TV program overall across all key Women demos (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54) for the 4th consecutive week. Opposite the conclusion of the NFL game, ABC’s Brothers & Sisters topped its drama competition in the hour, CBS’ CSI: Miami, by 18% in Adults 18-34 and across all key Women demographics: W18-34/W18-49/W25-54.
(source: ABC)
