Overall: The biggest gainer among the major nets over the same week last year in both Total Viewers (+11%) and Adults 18-49 (+25%), ABC built its young adult audience year to year for the 14th consecutive week. The Net also posted double-digit percentage increases week to week with viewers (+16%) and young adults (+15%), drawing its 2nd largest audience since June – since w/o 6/21/10. ABC aired 4 of the Top 20 most-watched TV shows overall for the week: Wipeout-TUES – #4, America’s Funniest Home Videos – 8/22 – #14, Wipeout-THURS – #19 and Rookie Blue – #20. In addition, ABC’s Wipeout-TUES stood as the week’s #1 TV series among Adults 18-49. The Net delivered the week’s top-rated newsmagazine in Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54 with Primetime: What Would You Do? on Tuesday, as ABC News delivered TV’s #1 newsmag for the 9th time in the last 10 weeks with young adults. With just two weeks remaining in the 2010 summer frame (Memorial Day-Labor Day), ABC’s primetime results have jumped year to year by 21% in Total Viewers and by 27% in Adults 18-49. In viewers and young adults, ABC is generating its strongest summertime numbers in 5 years – since 2005. The Net is up by solid margins this summer in Adults 18-49 on 5 of 7 nights during the week: +22% on Monday, +73% on Tuesday, +87% on Thursday, +33% on Friday and +12% on Sunday.
Monday: ABC’s Monday line-up of Bachelor Pad and Dating in the Dark ranked #1 on the night among the major networks among Adults 18-49. ABC improved on the same Monday last summer (8/17/09) by 38% in Adults 18-49, up year-to-year for the 3rd straight Monday and for the 9th time in the last 10 weeks. Bachelor Pad led its 2-hour time period for the 2nd consecutive week among Women 18-49 and Women 25-54. The new summer series grew its young adult audience by 24% from its first half-hour to its final-half hour. Bachelor Pad was up over the Net’s year-ago performance (8/17/10) in the time period by 19% in Adults 18-49. ABC’s Dating in the Dark ranked #1 against its CBS and NBC competition in the 10pm hour among young adults (AD18-34/AD18-49), while leading the hour overall among Women 18-34 and Women 18-49. The ABC unscripted series retained 100% of its week-ago season-opener in Adults 18-34, while building on its premiere by 5% in Women 18-34. Dating in the Dark garnered increases in the time period for ABC over the same night last year among Total Viewers (+12%) and Adults 18-49 (+67%).
Tuesday: ABC generated its highest-rated Tuesday in 9 weeks (since 6/15/10 with the 2010 NBA Finals Game 6) among Adults 18-49, registering its top non-sports performance on the night since June 1. Up year-to-year on the night for the 6th week in a row, ABC grew sharply over on the year-ago Tuesday (8/18/10) in Total Viewers (+33%) and Adults 18-49 (+57%). The Net has been up year to year on Tuesday evening on 11 of 12 weeks this summer. ABC’s Wipeout won the 8 o’clock hour among Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, beating out its nearest competition by 100% with young adults (NBC). Despite its early time period with lower overall TV usage levels, Wipeout finished as Tuesday’s #1 TV show in the key young adult sales demo, outperforming NBC’s 2-hour America’s Got Talent (9-11pm). On the heels of its 4th season renewal announcement earlier in the week, Wipeout equaled season-highs across all key Adults demographics (A18-34/A18-49/A25-54), while drawing the season’s second largest viewer count. In fact the show matched its top Adult 18-34 number in over 2 years and best Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54 numbers in over 1 year – since 7/29/08 and 5/27/09, respectively. In the 9 o’clock hour, ABC’s Shaq VS jumped to a series-high with young adults, surging week to week by 36% in Total Viewers and by 33% in Adults 18-49. The ABC sophomore unscripted series was up over its series debut on the same night last summer by 14% in Total Viewers and 12% in Adults 18-49. In the 10 pm hour, ABC’s repeat airing of Primetime: What Would You Do? took second place against its NBC (original America’s Got Talent) and CBS (encore The Good Wife) competition among Adults 18-49, outdelivering CBS’ The Good Wife by 70%. The ABC newsmagazine produced the Net’s 2nd highest non-sports numbers in the time period this summer among Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54.
Thursday: Thursday’s biggest gainer among the major nets this summer, ABC’s numbers shot up over the same night last year (8/20/09) in Total Viewers (+40%) and Adults 18-49 (+40%). The Network tallied its 11th straight Thursday of year-to-year primetime improvement. In the 8 o’clock hour, ABC’s repeat Wipeout finished a strong second to CBS’ original Big Brother in Total Viewers, Adults 25-54, Women 18-49 and Kids 2-11. Outdrawing Fox’s Pre-season NFL Game (New England-Atlanta) in the 9 o’clock hour, ABC’s Rookie Blue stood as the most-watched TV show in its time period for the 3rd time in 4 weeks. Despite facing NFL competition, Rookie Blue grew its overall audience week to week by 7% and equaled its 2nd-highest-ever Adult 18-34 number. Rookie Blue continued to generate substantial year-to-year growth for ABC in the hour, doubling Net’s numbers over the year-ago night in viewers (+100%) and young adults (+100%). ABC News’ Nightlineprime: Secrets of Your Mind debuted with impressive year-to-year gains in Thursday’s 10 o’clock hour. Versus the year-ago night, Nightlineprime boosted the time period for ABC by 81% in Total Viewers and by 83% in Adults 18-49.
Friday: A repeat ABC News’ Primetime: What Would You Do? once again beat out the first hour of NBC’s original Dateline by double-digit percentages, leading the newsmagazine race in the 9 o’clock hour by 20% in Adults 18-49 and by 15% among Adults 25-54. ABC News’ 20/20 was the top-rated regular program the final hour of Friday’s prime in Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54, beating the second hour of NBC’s competing newsmagazine Dateline by 8% and 20%, respectively. In fact, the ABC newsmagazine finished as the #1 regular show in its slot with Adults 18-49 for the 7th consecutive week and 6 of the last 7 weeks among Adults 25-54.
Saturday: ABC’s primetime broadcast of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series from Bristol drew the Net’s largest audience on the night in over 4 months and highest Adults 18-49 number in over 3 months – since 4/3/10 and 5/8/10, respectively. ABC won the night in both viewers and young adults.
Sunday: ABC turned-in its best non-sports Sunday of the summer in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49. Opposite NFL Pre-Season Football on NBC in the hour, a rebroadcast of ABC’s America’s Funniest Home Videos at 8pm drew the series’ largest summer audience in over 4 years and best Adults 18-49 performance in 3 years – since 8/20/06 and 8/26/07, respectively. At 9pm, ABC’s repeat Extreme Makeover: Home Edition posted ABC’s strongest performance in the hour in over 2 months in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49 – since 6/20/10. In fact, the unscripted series delivered the Net’s second-best non-sports performance in the hour of the summer.
(source: ABC)
