Monday Night (8-11pm): Posting its 5th straight week of Monday growth and matching its highest Adult 18-49 number this season, ABC (3.5/9) took second place on the night to CBS’ original line-up, beating Fox with the 2-hour Monday season opener of 24 (3.4/8) and NBC’s originals (1.9/5 – Chuck/Heroes/Jay Leno).
ABC was up over the year-ago night in both Total Viewers (+1.6 million – 10.2 million vs. 8.6 million) and Adults 18-49 (+6% – 3.5/9 vs. 3.3/8).
The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love (8-10pm): From 8-10pm, ABC’s The Bachelor defeated Fox’s 2-hour Monday season opener of 24 in head-to-head competition by +12% in Adults 18-49 (3.8/9 vs. 3.4/8) and ranked #1 with Adults 18-34 (3.7/10) and key Women (W18-34/W18-49). The broad-appealing ABC unscripted show also made ABC the top-rated broadcaster in the time period with Teens 12-17 and Kids 2-11.
The Bachelor posted a season-high with its 2nd straight week of Total Viewer and Adult 18-49 growth and was up over the same night last year on both Nielsen counts.
Castle (10-11pm): Growing its Adult 18-49 audience (2.8/8 – a season high) for its 2nd straight original telecast, ABC’s Castle finished a strong second to CBS’ CSI: Miami in the 10pm hour, topping NBC’s Jay Leno by a best-ever 115% (1.3/3). The ABC sophomore drama ranked #1 in its time slot with Women 18-34, beating CSI: Miami for the first time ever.
Castle boosted ABC’s performance in the hour over the same night a last year by 3.6 viewers (9.4 million vs. 5.8 million) and by 8% in Adults 18-49 (2.8/8 vs. 2.6/7 – an original True Beauty on 1/19/09).
Castle hit season-high rating with Adults 18-49 and marked a series-high with Adults 18-34.
(source: data and information provided by ABC)
