Gaining week to week in the 8 o’clock hour, against the season’s penultimate episode of Fox’s American Idol-Thurs and CBS’ comedies (season finale of The Big Bang Theory/Rules of Engagement), ABC’s Missing more than doubled the audience of NBC’s comedy block (+113% over Community/30 Rock). The new ABC drama also defeated the established NBC comedies with Adults 25-54 (+7%) and Women 18-49 (+7%). ABC’s Missing attracted its biggest audience in 3 weeks (since 4/19/12) and improved its hour year to year by 19% over original programming on the year-ago evening.
Vaulting over its lead-in at 9pm in Adults 18-49 (+209%), ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy stood as the top-rated series in its hour for the 5th week running and continued to qualify as Thursday’s #1 drama. Dominating the 9 o’clock hour, ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy outdelivered CBS’ Person of Interest by 31%, Fox’s Idol-driven Touch by 70% and NBC’s comedy finales by 70% (The Office/Parks and Recreation). Additionally, Grey’s registered as Thursday’s highest-rated TV series with Adults 18-34, Women 18-49 (2nd straight week) and Women 18-34 (6th straight week). Rising in viewers (+4%) and young adults (+3%) over the prior week, ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy achieved a 13-week high in Adults 18-49 – since 2/09/12. Grey’s was up over its year-ago telecast in Adults 18-49 (+6%), Adults 18-34 (+4%) and across all key Women demos: W18-34 (+8%), W18-49 (+6%) and W25-54 (+3%).
During the 10pm hour, ABC freshman Scandal earned second place to CBS’ veteran The Mentalist in Total Viewers and key Adults (AD18-49/AD25-54). Also in its time period, ABC’s Scandal continued to overshadow its freshman drama competition, more than doubling the results for NBC’s Awake in Viewers (+160%), Adults 25-54 (+150%) and Adults 18-49 (+122%). Additionally, Scandal took full control of The Mentalist with Adults 18-34 (+50%) and finished #1 in its slot for the 6th consecutive week with Women 18-49. Scandal built week to week among Adults 18-49 (+5%) to match a series best and also grew with Adults 18-34 (+7%) to hit a new series high.
(source: ABC)
