ABC is Monday’s Most-Watched Net for the 9th Consecutive Week. “Dancing with the Stars” is Monday’s No. 1 Show in Viewers and Leads CBS’ 8-9:30pm Comedy Block in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49. Despite Shifting to 90 Minutes, “DWTS” Draws its Largest Audience in 7 Weeks.
Special Encore Telecast of ABC’s “The Middle” Draws Series’ Largest Audience Ever, Beating Original Programming on NBC and Fox in Viewers and Young Adults.
ABC’s “Castle” Holds 100% Retention Week to Week in Adults 18-49,
While Building on its Week-Ago Performance in Key Men Demos.
Monday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)
ABC ranked as No. 1 Net on Monday night in Total Viewers for the 9th consecutive week, outdrawing CBS by 4.7 million viewers (15.3 million vs. 10.3 million).
“Dancing with the Stars” (8:00-9:30 p.m.)
Shifting to 90 minutes from its usual 2-hour telecast, the semifinals of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” led its time slot in Total Viewers (20.6 million) for the 9th straight week. “DWTS” defeated CBS’ 8:00 – 9:30 p.m. original comedy block in Total Viewers (+10.3 million – 20.6 million vs. 10.3 million) and Adults 18-49 (+11% – 4.0/10 vs. 3.6/9). Despite its shorter duration, “DWTS” drew its largest audience in 7 weeks – since 9/27/10.
“DWTS” stood as Monday’s No. 1 show in Total Viewers, Women 18-49 and Women 25-54 for the 9th straight week.
“DWTS” built over its year-ago telecast for the 9th time in as many weeks in Total Viewers (20.6 million vs. 18.8 million) and Adults 18-49 (4.0/10 vs. 3.9/10).
“The Middle” (9:30-10:00 p.m.)
A special encore telecast of ABC’s “The Middle” outperformed first-run competition in the half-hour by wide margins in Total Viewers (10.1 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.3/6), beating Fox’s “Lie to Me” (5.9 million and 1.8/5) and NBC’s “The Event” (5.7 million and 1.7/4).
Bringing added exposure to the show coming out of “DWTS,” “The Middle” attracted its largest audience ever.
“Castle” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
Despite not having a “DWTS” lead-in, ABC’s “Castle” held 100% retention in Adults 18-49 (2.5/7) from its week-ago performance, while growing week to week in key Men demos (M18-49/M25-54). For the 6th week in a row “Castle” topped CBS’ “Hawaii Five-0” across all key Women demographics (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54).
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 38% currently, from 33% 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 (Fast Affiliate, Live + Same Day Ratings), 11/15/10)
