ABC is TV’s No. 1 Network on Thursday in Adults 18-49, Leading its Regular Competition on the Night for 8 of 8 Thursdays This Season
Freshman “FlashForward” Takes 2nd to Slot-Veteran “Survivor” in Adults 18-34
Dominating the 9pm Hour in Adults 18-49, “Grey’s Anatomy” Qualifies As Thursday’s No. 1 TV Series in Adults 18-49 for the 8th Straight Week
Turning in a Best-Since-Premiere Performance, “Private Practice” is No. 1 at 10pm in Adults 18-49, Improving the Hour by 50% Year to Year
Thursday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)
Growing week to week, ABC finished as Thursday’s No. 1 network among Adults 18-49 (4.0/10) for the 2nd week in a row. In fact ABC has been the highest-rated network on the evening against regular competition on 8 of 8 Thursdays this season.
ABC was up week to week in both Total Viewers (+4% – 11.0 million vs. 10.6 million) and Adults 18-49 (+8% – 4.0/10 vs. 3.7/10).
Surging 11% from the year-ago November Sweep Thursday in Adults 18-49 (3.6/9 on 11/13/08), ABC registered year-to-year gains on the evening for the 4th time in 5 weeks.
“FlashForward” (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
ABC freshman “FlashForward” took second to CBS’ time-slot veteran “Survivor: Samoa” in the 8 o’clock hour among Adults 18-34 (2.3/7-tied). The new ABC drama saw week-to-week increases in Adults 18-34 (+5% – 2.3/7 vs. 2.2/7) and across all key Women demographics: W18-34 (+17% – 2.8/8 vs. 2.4/7), W18-49 (+10% – 3.2/8 vs. 2.9/8) and W25-54 (+3% – 3.8/9 vs. 3.7/9).
The top gainer overall for any new series this season in DVR playback, “FlashForward” surges over the first-reported numbers by 1.9 million viewers and by 8-tenths of an Adult 18-49 rating point (+24%) from the Live + Same Day Numbers to the Live + 7 Day DVR finals.
“Grey’s Anatomy” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” (5.4/13) stood as Thursday’s No. 1 series telecast in Adults 18-49 for the 8th week in a row. Winning the 9 o’clock hour by wide margins, “Grey’s” defeated CBS with the concluding part of its “CSI” cross-over trilogy event by 35% (4.0/10), NBC’s comedy combo “The Office”/”30 Rock” by 54% (3.5/9) and Fox’s “Fringe” by 145% (2.2/5). “Grey’s” was also once again Thursday’s highest-rated show in Adults 18-34 (5.3/15).
“Grey’s” drew its biggest audience (14.4 million) in 3 weeks and its highest Adult 18-49 number (5.4/13) in 6 weeks – since 10/22/09 and 10/1/09, respectively.
TV’s most-popular show in DVR playback, “Grey’s Anatomy” jumps over the first-reported numbers by 2.9 million viewers and by an additional 1.4 Adult 18-49 rating points (+24%) from the Live + Same Day Numbers to the Live + 7 Day DVR finals.
“Private Practice” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
ABC’s “Private Practice” won the 10 o’clock hour among Adults 18-49 (3.9/11) and Adults 18-34 (3.7/11). In fact the ABC drama has been the No. 1 series in the final hour of Thursday night for 7 weeks running in Adults 18-34 and on 6 of 7 weeks in Adults 18-49.
“Private Practice” turned in a best-since-premiere Adult 18-49 number (3.9/11) and its largest overall audience (10.2 million) in a month – since 10/1/09 and 10/15/09, respectively.
Versus the year-ago night (11/13/08), “Private Practice” improved ABC’s delivery in the 10 o’clock hour by 50% in Adults 18-49 (3.9/11 vs. 2.6/7 – original “Life on Mars”).
Like its lead-in, “Private Practice” sees impressive DVR gains from the first-reported numbers, shooting up by 1.8 million viewers and by 0.9 Adult 18-49 rating points (+23%) from the 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: data and information provided by ABC. Nielsen Media Research (Fast Affiliate, Live + Same Day Ratings), 11/12/09. DVR Playback = 9/21-10/25/09.)
