ABC’s return of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ delivers #1

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With an ABC News Special covering the Haitian earthquake and the return of Grey’s and Private Practice to originals for the first time since Fall, ABC won Thursday night in Adults 18-49 (3.4/10), leading its closest competitor by 17% (2.9/8 – CBS and Fox tied).  


The Network won the night by an even wide margin in Adults 18-34, beating second-place Fox by 38% (3.3/10 vs. 2.4/7).   ABC’s Grey’s and Private Practice stood as the Top 2 TV shows on Thursday in both young adult demographics.  In viewers and young adults, ABC posted its strongest non-sports Thursday since mid-November – since 11/19/09.

During the 8pm hour in a last-minute schedule change, an ABC News Special on the earthquake in Haiti drew the Net’s 2nd-largest non-sports numbers (5.4 million and 1.4/4) in the time period since the beginning of December – since 12/3/09.

On its first original telecast in 2 months (since 11/19/09), ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy (4.7/12) returned as Thursday’s dominant #1 TV show in Adults 18-49, registering as the highest-rated series on the night for its 10th original telecast in a row. 

Dominating the 9 o’clock hour over all original competition, Grey’s defeated CBS’ CSI by 42% (3.3/9), Fox’s Fringe by 81% (2.6/7) and NBC’s back-to-back episodes of 30 Rock by 104% (2.3/6).  Grey’s was also once again Thursday’s highest-rated show in Adults 18-34 (4.8/14), growing over its most-recent original telecast.

The #2 TV show of the night with its strongest Grey’s retention this season, ABC’s cross-over Private Practice won the 10 o’clock hour among Adults 18-49, beating CBS’ original The Mentalist by a best-ever 24% in Adults 18-49 (4.2/12 vs. 3.4/9).  Topping the combined delivery of CBS and NBC in the hour by 50% with a season-high among Adults 18-34 (4.2/13 vs. 2.8/9 – CBS and NBC combined), Private Practice registered as TV’s #1 series telecast in its time slot for its 10th consecutive original airing this season.  

Private Practice surged from its most-recent original telecast (on 12/3/09) by 1.8 million viewers (11.0 million vs. 9.2 million) and by 31% in Adults 18-49 (4.2/12 vs. 3.2/8), marking a best-since-season premiere performance on both Nielsen measures – since 10/1/09.

The ABC drama was also up substantially from its performance on the same night last year in the hour, jumping year to year by 2.5 million viewers and by 27% in Adults 18-49 (8.5 million and 3.3/8 on 1/15/09).

(source: data and information provided by ABC)