Hitting a Season-High Against Fox’s World Series, ABC is the Night’s No. 1 Non-Sports Network, Topping CBS by 55% and NBC by 143% in Adults 18-49
“Home Edition” Grows its Overall Audience for the 3rd Straight Week, While Hitting Season-Highs Among Adults 18-49 and Adults 18-34
Marking its 2nd-Highest Adult 18-49 Number This Season, ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” is Sunday’s Most-Watched Entertainment Show for 6 Weeks Running
Matching its Top Adult 18-49 Rating Since March, ABC’s “Brothers & Sisters” Overshadows CBS’ “Cold Case” at 10pm by 106% in the Key Sales Demo
Sunday Night (7:00-11:00 p.m.)
Once again facing big professional sports competition on Sunday night from Fox with a huge NFL overrun leading into Game 4 of the 2009 World Series (NY Yankees-Philadelphia Phillies), ABC remained the No. 1 non-sports network in Total Viewers (10.4 million) and Adults 18-49 (3.4/8). In fact among Adults 18-49, ABC towered over its non-sports competition, beating CBS by 55% (2.2/5) and NBC by 143% (1.4/4).
Despite facing the World Series, ABC grew its Adult 18-49 audience on Sunday night for the 2nd week in a row to match a season high on the evening.
“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
The No. 1 non-sports TV show in the 8 o’clock hour with young adults, ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” beat out CBS’ “Amazing Race” by 6% among Adults 18-49 (3.4/8 vs. 3.2/8) and by 18% among Adults 18-34 (2.6/7 vs. 2.2/6).
“Home Edition” increased overall audience (10.8 million) for the 3rd straight week, while hitting season-highs with young adults (AD18-34/AD18-34).
“Desperate Housewives” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” once again registered as Sunday’s No. 1 TV series in Total Viewers (13.8 million) and Adults 18-49 (4.9/11), qualifying as the night’s most-watched entertainment program on all 6 weeks this season and for 4 weeks running among Adults 18-49.
Growing its young adult audience for the 2nd consecutive week, ABC’s “Housewives” generated its 2nd-highest Adult 18-49 rating of the season.
“Housewives” is generating an even bigger increase this season than last over its first-reported numbers through DVR playback, picking up an average 1.6 million viewers and an additional 7-tenths of an Adult 18-49 rating point from the initially reported Live + Same Day Numbers to the Live + 7 Day DVR finals.
“Brothers & Sisters” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
ABC’s “Brothers & Sisters” continued to beat out its CBS drama competition in the 10 o’clock hour, outdelivering “Cold Case” by 9% in Total Viewers (9.4 million vs. 8.6 million) and by 106% in Adults 18-49 (3.3/9 vs. 1.6/4).
“Brothers & Sisters” equaled the series’ highest Adult 18-49 rating since March – since 3/22/09.
Like its lead-in, “Brothers & Sisters” is seeing a sizeable uptick this season over its first-reported numbers through DVR playback (also bigger than last season), picking up an average 1.2 million viewers and an additional 5-tenths of an Adult 18-49 rating point from the initially reported Live + Same Day Numbers to the Live + 7 Day DVR finals.
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 33% currently, from 28% at the same point in 2008. 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 and Nielsen Media Research (Fast Affiliate, Live + Same Day Ratings), 11/1/09. DVR Playback = 9/21-10/18/09.)
