Week 48: ABC aired 4 of the Week's Top 20; 'Wipeout' winner

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The Biggest Gainer Among the Major Nets Year to Year, ABC is Up over the Same Week Last Year for the 14th Consecutive Week. Net Airs 4 of the Week’s Top 20 Most-Watched TV Shows OverallAnd Claims the No. 1 TV Series in Adults 18-49 with “Wipeout-TUES”. ABC Improves its Summer Results Year to Year by 21% in Viewers And by 27% in Adults 18-49, Posting its Strongest Summer in 5 Years.
 
ABC’s Monday Grows Year to Year for 3rd Straight Week and on 9 of the Last 10. ABC’s “Bachelor Pad” Improves its Slot and is No. 1 Among Key Women Demos. “Dating in the Dark” Retains 100% of its Week-Ago Premiere In Adults 18-34, While Building on its Opener with Women 18-34.
 
ABC Marks its Top Tuesday in 9 Weeks, Up Year to Year for the 6th Straight Week. Hitting Season Highs, ABC’s “Wipeout” is Tuesday’s No. 1 Show in Adults 18-49.


ABC’s “Shaq VS” Delivers Series-High with Young Adults, Up Over its Year-Ago Series Debut by 21% in Viewers and 18% in Adults 18-49.

Posting Sharp Year-to-Year Gains, ABC is Up for the 11th Consecutive Thursday.

ABC’s Repeat “Wipeout” Takes a Strong Second in its Slot to CBS’ “Big Brother”. 

Finishing as the Most-Watched TV Show in its Hour for the 3rd time in 4 Weeks, ABC’s “Rookie Blue” Grows its Audience Despite Facing Fox’s NFL Coverage.

ABC News’ “Nighlineprime” Opens with Big Year-to-Year Time Period Improvement.

For the 7th Straight Week, “20/20” is the No. 1 Series in its Slot with Adults 18-49.

ABC Wins Saturday in Viewers and Young Adults with “NASCAR” Coverage, Generating the Network’s Biggest Audience on the Evening in Over 4 Months.

On Sunday, “America’s Funniest Home Videos” Marks the Series’ Most-Watched Summer Telecast in 4 Years and Highest-Rated in 3 Years Among Adults 18-49.   

WEEK No. 48:
The biggest gainer among the major nets over the same week last year in both Total Viewers (+11% – 5.0 million vs. 4.5 million) and Adults 18-49 (+25% – 1.5/5 vs. 1.2/4), ABC built its young adult audience year to year for the 14th consecutive week.  The Net also posted double-digit percentage increases week to week (w/o 8/9/10 = 4.3 million and 1.3/4) with viewers (+16%) and young adults (+15%), drawing its 2nd largest audience since June – since w/o 6/21/10.  

With just two weeks remaining in the 2010 summer frame (Memorial Day-Labor Day), ABC’s primetime results have jumped year to year by 21% in Total Viewers (5.8 million vs. 4.8 million) and by 27% in Adults 18-49 (1.9/6 vs. 1.5/5).  In viewers and young adults, ABC is generating its strongest summertime numbers in 5 years – since 2005.   The Net is up by wide margins this summer in Adults 18-49 on 5 of 7 nights during the week: +22% on Monday, +73% on Tuesday, +87% on Thursday, +33% on Friday and +12% on Sunday.  The Net ranks No. 1 with young adults this summer on Monday, Thursday and Sunday nights.

Rankings:  ABC aired 4 of the Top 20 most-watched TV shows overall for the week:  “Wipeout-TUES” – No. 4, “America’s Funniest Home Videos – 8/22” – No. 14, “Wipeout-THURS” – No. 19 and “Rookie Blue” – No. 20.  In addition, ABC’s “Wipeout-TUES” stood as the week’s No. 1 TV series among Adults 18-49.  ABC aired the No. 1 newsmagazine for the week in Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54 with “Primetime: What Would You Do?” on Tuesday.   In fact among Adults 18-49, ABC News delivered TV’s No. 1 newsmagazine for the 9th time in the last 10 weeks.

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 37% currently, from 32% 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.

Monday
ABC’s Monday lineup of “Bachelor Pad” and “Dating in the Dark” ranked No. 1 on the night among the major networks in Adults 18-49 (1.8/5-tie).

ABC improved on the same Monday last summer (8/17/09) by 38% in Adults 18-49 (1.8/5 vs. 1.3/4), up year to year for the 3rd straight Monday and for the 9th time on the last 10 weeks.

“Bachelor Pad” (8:00-10:01 p.m.)
“Bachelor Pad” led its 2-hour time period for the 2nd consecutive week among Women 18-49 (2.7/8) and Women 25-54 (3.2/8).  The new summer series grew its young adult audience by 24% (1.7/6 to 2.1/6) from its first half-hour to its final-half hour.

“Bachelor Pad” was up over the Net’s year-ago performance (8/17/10) in the time period by 19% in Adults 18-49 (1.9/6 vs. 1.6/5).  

“Dating in the Dark” (10:01-11:00 p.m.)
ABC’s “Dating in the Dark” ranked No. 1 against its CBS and NBC competition in the hour Adults 18-49 (1.5/4) and Adults 18-34 (1.5/4), while leading the hour overall among Women 18-34 (2.1/7) and Women 18-49 (2.1/6).  The ABC unscripted series retained 100% of its week-ago season opener in Adults 18-34, while building on its premiere by 5% in Women 18-34 (2.1/7 vs. 2.0/6). 

“Dating in the Dark” saw increases in the time period for ABC over the same night last year in Total Viewers (+12% – 3.7 million vs. 3.3 million) and Adults 18-49 (+67% – 1.5/4 vs. 0.9/3).  
  
Tuesday
ABC generated its highest-rated Tuesday in 9 weeks (since 6/15/10 with the 2010 NBA Finals Game 6) among Adults 18-49 (2.2/7), registering its top non-sports performance on the night since June 1.

Up year-to-year on the night for the 6th week in a row, ABC grew sharply over on the year-ago Tuesday (8/18/10) in Total Viewers (+33% – 6.1 million vs. 4.6 million) and Adults 18-49 (+57% – 2.2/7 vs. 1.4/4).  The Net has been up year to year on Tuesday evening on 11 of 12 weeks this summer.

“Wipeout-TUES” (8:00-9:01 p.m.)
ABC’s “Wipeout” won the 8 o’clock hour among Total Viewers (9.0 million) and Adults 18-49 (3.1/10), beating out its nearest competition by 94% with young adults (NBC – 1.6/5).  Despite its early time period with lower overall TV usage levels, “Wipeout” finished as Tuesday’s No. 1 TV show in the key young adult sales demo, outperforming NBC’s 2-hour “America’s Got Talent” (9:00 – 11:00 p. m.).  

Coming on the heels of its 4th season renewal announcement earlier in the week, “Wipeout” matched season-highs across all key Adults demographics (A18-34 – 2.5/9, A18-49 – 3.1/10 and A25-54 – 3.6/11), while drawing the season’s second-largest viewer count.  In fact “Wipeout” equaled its best Adults 18-34 performance in over 2 years and matched its best Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54 numbers in over 1 year – since 7/29/08 and 5/27/09, respectively.  

“Shaq VS” (9:01-10:01 p.m.)
In the 9 o’clock hour, ABC’s “Shaq VS” jumped to a series high with young adults, surging week to week by 33% in Total Viewers (4.8 million vs. 3.6 million) and by 36% in Adults 18-49 (1.9/6 vs. 1.4/4). 

The ABC sophomore unscripted series was up over its performance in the hour on the same night last summer, on its series debut, gaining 14% in Total Viewers and 12% in Adults 18-49 (4.2 million and 1.7/5).

“Primetime: What Would You Do?” (10:01-11:00 p.m.) 
In the 10 p.m. hour, ABC’s repeat airing of “Primetime: What Would You Do?” took second place against its NBC (original “America’s Got Talent”) and CBS (encore “The Good Wife”) competition among Adults 18-49, outdelivering CBS’ “The Good Wife” by 70% (1.7/5 vs. 1.0/3).

The ABC newsmagazine produced the Net’s 2nd highest non-sports numbers in the time period this summer among Adults 18-49 (1.7/5) and Adults 25-54 (2.0/5).

Thursday
Thursday’s biggest gainer among the major nets this summer, ABC saw its numbers shoot up over the same night last summer (8/20/09) in Total Viewers (+40% – 5.6 million vs. 4.0 million) and Adults 18-49 (+40% – 1.5/5 vs. 0.9/3).  The Network tallied its 11th straight Thursday of year-to-year primetime improvement.

“Wipeout-THURS” (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
In the 8 o’clock hour, ABC’s “Wipeout-THURS” finished a strong second to CBS’ original “Big Brother” in Total Viewers (6.4 million), Adults 25-54, Women 18-49 and Kids 2-11.

“Rookie Blue” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Outdrawing Fox’s pre-season NFL Game (New England-Atlanta), ABC’s “Rookie Blue” (6.4 million) stood as the most-watched TV show in its time period for the 3rd time in 4 weeks.      

Despite facing NFL competition, “Rookie Blue” grew its overall audience week to week by 7% and equaled its 2nd highest-ever Adult 18-34 number.

“Rookie Blue” continued to generate impressive year-to-year growth for ABC in the hour, doubling Net’s numbers over the year-ago night in viewers (+100% – 6.4 million vs. 3.2 million) and young adults (+100% – 1.6/5 vs. 0.8/3). 

“Nightlineprime: Secrets of Your Mind – Why We Do What We Do” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
ABC News’ “Nightlineprime: Secrets of Your Mind” debuted with impressive year-to-year gains in Thursday’s 10 o’clock hour.  Versus the year-ago night, “Nightlineprime” boosted the time period for ABC by 81% in Total Viewers (3.8 million vs. 2.1 million) and by 83% in Adults 18-49 (1.1/3 vs. 0.6/2) over its performance last summer.   

Friday
“Primetime: What Would You Do?” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
A repeat ABC News’ “Primetime: What Would You Do?” once again beat out the first hour of NBC’s original “Dateline” by double-digit percentages, leading the newsmagazine race by 20% in Adults 18-49 (1.2/4 vs. 1.0/3) and by 15% among Adults 25-54 (1.5/5 vs. 1.3/4).
 
“20/20” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
ABC News’ “20/20” was the top-rated regular program the final hour of Friday’s prime in Adults 18-49 (1.4/5) and Adults 25-54 (1.8/6-tie), beating the second hour of NBC’s competing newsmagazine, “Dateline,” by 8% and 20%, respectively (1.2/4 and 1.5/5, respectively).  In fact, the ABC newsmagazine finished as the No. 1 regular show in its slot with Adults 18-49 for the 7th consecutive week and 6 of the last 7 weeks among Adults 25-54.

Saturday
ABC’s broadcast of “NASCAR Sprint Cup Series from Bristol” drew the Net’s largest audience (6.0 million) on the night in over 4 months and highest Adults 18-49 number (1.8/7) in over 3 months – since 4/3/10 and 5/8/10, respectively.   In addition, ABC won the night in viewers and young adults.

Sunday
ABC turned in its best non-sports Sunday of the summer in Total Viewers (5.1 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.3/4-tie).  

“America’s Funniest Home Videos” (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
Opposite “NFL Pre-Season Football” on NBC in the hour, a rebroadcast of ABC’s “America’s Funniest Home Videos” at 8:00 p.m. drew the series’ largest summer audience (7.0 million) in over 4 years and best Adults 18-49 performance (1.8/5) in 3 years – since 8/20/06 and 8/26/07, respectively.  

“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
At 9:00 p.m., ABC’s repeat “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” posted ABC’s strongest performance in the hour in Total Viewers (4.8 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.2/3) in over 2 months – since 6/20/10.  In fact, the unscripted series delivered the Net’s second-best non-sports performance in the hour of the summer.

WEEK NO. 48:  ADULTS 18-49    TOTAL VIEWERS
             No.1 FOX 1.7    No.1 CBS   6,090,000
             No.2 NBC 1.6    No.2 NBC   5,700,000
             No.3 ABC 1.5    No.3 ABC   5,040,000
             No.4 CBS 1.4    No.4 FOX   4,620,000
             No.5 CW  0.4    No.5 CW    1,050,000

Source:ABC – The Nielsen Company (National Live+Same Day Program Ratings), week of 8/16/10, unless stated otherwise.  Summer = 5/31-8/22/10 vs. 5/25-8/23/09.