Up by 87% on the Night This Summer, ABC Builds for the 12th Straight Thursday. ABC’s Replay “Wipeout” Ranks a Competitive No. 2 to CBS’ Original “Big Brother”. ABC’s “Rookie Blue” Leads its Net Rivals by Wide Margins at 9pm in Adults 18-49. ABC News’ “Nightlineprime” Greatly Improves its 10pm Time Slot Year to Year in Viewers and Young Adults.
Thursday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)
Thursday’s biggest gainer among the major nets during Summer 2010 (+93% in Adults 18-49, on average), ABC surged from the year-ago night (8/27/09) in Total Viewers (+63% – 5.2 million vs. 3.2 million) and Adults 18-49 (+88% – 1.5/5 vs. 0.8/3). The Net posted its 12th straight Thursday of year-to-year primetime improvement.
“Wipeout-THURS” (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
In the 8 o’clock hour, ABC’s repeat “Wipeout-THURS” finished a strong second to CBS’ original “Big Brother” in Total Viewers (6.1 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.9/7). In addition, the encore airing of the broad-appealing ABC unscripted series stood as the top-rated broadcast show in the hour in Kids 2-11.
ABC’s Thursday “Wipeout” repeat grew its numbers week to week in Adults 18-49 (+6%) and Adults 18-34 (+7%).
“Rookie Blue” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
With freshman drama “Rookie Blue,” ABC finished a strong No. 1 among the major networks in the 9 o’clock hour with Adults 18-49 (1.6/5), leading CBS by 23% (1.3/4), NBC by 60% (1.0/3) and Fox by 100% (0.8/3).
“Rookie Blue” drastically improved its time slot over the year-ago night with Total Viewers (+76% – 5.8 million vs. 3.3 million) and Adults 18-49 (+100% – 1.6/5 vs. 0.8/3).
“Nightlineprime: Secrets of Your Mind – Why We Do What We Do” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
Up over its week-earlier series debut, ABC News’ “Nightlineprime: Secrets of Your Mind” continued to deliver significant year-to-year gains in Thursday’s 10 o’clock hour. Compared to the same night last year, “Nightlineprime” boosted the hour for ABC by 27% in Total Viewers (3.8 million vs. 3.0 million) and by 11% in Adults 18-49 (1.0/3 vs. 0.9/3) over its performance last summer.
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 37% currently, from 32% at the same point in 2009.
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 (National, Live + Same Day Program Ratings), 8/26/10.
