ABC Matches its Top-Rated Week Since Early June Among Adults 18-49 And Grows its Overall Audience Year to Year for the 4th Time in 5 Weeks.
Building its Labor Day Audience by 13% Over Last Year, ABC Holds Double-Digit Percentage Advantages Over Fox, CBS and NBC on Monday.
“Bachelor Pad” Gains Overall Audience Year to Year for the 5th Straight Telecast.
ABC’s “Castle” Replay Grows its Slot Year to Year for the 4th Consecutive Week.
ABC’s Encore “Wipeout” is No. 1 in its Slot in Adults 18-49 for the 3rd Straight Week.
ABC’s “Take the Money & Run” Season Closer Hits a 4-Week High in Young Adults.
On Average During its Run, “Combat Hospital” Improves its Hour by 10% in Viewers.
ABC’s “The Middle” and “Modern Family” Hit Their Top Numbers Since Early June.
Rising Over its Year-Ago Finale, ABC’s “Rookie Blue” Wraps its 2nd Season as ABC’s Most-Watched Summer Series in Thursday’s 10 O’clock Hour in 5 Years.
Dominating CBS’ “U.S. Open” Coverage on Saturday Evening, ABC’s “NASCAR Series at Richmond” is the Net’s Most-Watched-Ever NASCAR Race on the Night.
Building Sharply on its Lead-in Against “Sunday Night Football,” ABC’s “20/20 SP Edition-9/11” More than Doubles the Net’s Numbers in the Time Slot Year to Year.
WEEK No. 51:
During the week of September 5, 2011, ABC matched its highest-rated week since the beginning of June among Adults 18-49 – since w/o 6/6/11.
The Net grew its overall audience year to year for the 3rd week running and for the 4th time in 5 weeks (4.81 million vs. 4.75 million on w/o 9/6/10).
Monday
With “Bachelor Pad” and a repeat “Castle,” ABC (5.4 million) outdrew its network rivals by double-digit percentages on Labor Day among Total Viewers, leading Fox by 20% (4.5 million), CBS by 20% (4.5 million) and NBC by 43% (3.7 million).
ABC built its overall Monday audience year over year for the 5th consecutive week, outperforming the year-ago Labor Day with an all-original schedule by 13% (4.8 million on 9/6/10).
“Bachelor Pad” (8:00-10:00 p.m.)
From 8:00-10:00 p.m., ABC’s “Bachelor Pad” topped Fox in the time period by 31% in Total Viewers (5.9 million vs. 4.5 million).
“Bachelor Pad” built its overall audience year to year for the 5th week in a row, gaining 4% over its performance on the same night last year (5.7 million).
“Castle” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
Building week to week in the 10 o’clock hour among Total Viewers (+8% – 4.3 million vs. 4.0 million), ABC’s “Castle” equaled its most-watched telecast since its season finale in May.
For the 4th time in as many telecasts, ABC’s repeat “Castle” substantially improved its hour year to year among Total Viewers (+43% – 4.3 million vs. 3.0 million), outdrawing original programming on the year-ago evening (“Dating in the Dark”).
Tuesday
“Wipeout” (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
At 8 o’clock, ABC’s replay “Wipeout” ranked No. 1 in the hour in Adults 18-49 (2.0/6) for the 3rd week in a row, defeating encores of CBS’ “NCIS” by 25% (1.6/5) and Fox’s “Glee” by 150% (0.8/2). In addition, the repeat ABC unscripted series topped NBC’s original unscripted series (“It’s Worth What?”) by 67% in young adults (1.2/3). The wide-appealing “Wipeout” made ABC the top-rated broadcaster in the time period with Teens 12-17 and Kids 2-11 for the 6th consecutive week.
For the 3rd straight week, “Wipeout” matched a summer-high for ABC in the hour among young adults.
“Take the Money & Run” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
The season finale of ABC’s “Take the Money & Run” grew 7% over the prior week in Adults 18-49 (1.6/4 vs. 1.5/4), matching its best number in 4 weeks – since 8/9/11. “Take the Money & Run” was also up 8% week to week in Adults 18-34 (1.3/4 vs. 1.2/4).
During its freshman season run against established unscripted competition at 9:00 p.m. on NBC (“America’s Got Talent”), “Take the Money & Run” improved ABC’s performance in the hour by 7% in Adults 18-34 over the comparable nights last year with originals of “Shaq Vs.”
“Combat Hospital” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
On average during its 12-week run, ABC’s “Combat Hospital” improved its time period year to year by 10% in Total Viewers (4.5 million vs. 4.1 million) over “Primetime’s” average in the 10 o’clock hour last summer.
Wednesday
ABC grew its overall Wednesday audience by 5% week to week (4.4 million vs. 4.2 million), producing its largest audience on the night in 5 weeks – since 8/3/11. The Net also equaled its highest Adult 18-49 rating (1.5/4) in over 3 months – since 6/1/11. In addition, ABC grew over the same Wednesday last year (4.1 million and 1.2/4 on 9/8/10) for the 5th time in the last 6 weeks in Total Viewers (+7%) and for the 6th time in 7 weeks in young adults (+25%).
“The Middle” (8:30-9:00 p.m.)
At 8:30 p.m., ABC’s repeat “The Middle” earned second place versus its network rivals in Adults 18-49 (1.5/4), behind only CBS’ “Big Brother 13,” beating originals of Fox’s “Buried Treasure” by 15% (1.3/4) and NBC’s “Minute to Win it” by 7% (1.4/4) in the time slot.
“The Middle” soared over the prior week by 21% in Total Viewers (4.7 million vs. 3.9 million) and by 25% in Adults 18-49 (1.5/4 vs. 1.2/4), scoring ABC’s strongest performance in the time slot in 14 weeks – since 6/1/11.
“Modern Family” (9:00-9:30 p.m.)
ABC’s encore “Modern Family” stood as Wednesday’s No. 1 scripted show in Adults 18-49 (2.0/5-tie). In the 9:00 p.m. half-hour, the repeat ABC sitcom finished second to NBC’s original “America’s Got Talent” among young adults, topping its rebroadcast competition on CBS by 25% (“Criminal Minds” = 1.6/4) and Fox by 82% (“Buried Treasure” = 1.1/3).
Growing over the prior week’s rebroadcast by 7% in Total Viewers (4.9 million vs. 4.6 million) and by 11% in Adults 18-49 (2.0/5 vs. 1.8/5), “Modern Family” generated ABC’s best numbers in the half-hour since early June – since 6/1/11.
Thursday
“Rookie Blue” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
Against stiff competition from NBC’s NFL coverage (New Orleans at Green Bay) in the 10 o’clock hour, the season finale of ABC’s “Rookie Blue” built on its lead-in to rank as the No. 1 scripted show in its time slot in Total Viewers (5.1 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.2/3).
Growing week to week by 1.0 million viewers (5.1 million vs. 4.1 million) and by 9% in Adults 18-49 (1.2/3 vs. 1.1/3), “Rookie Blue” drew its largest audience and matched its best young adult rating in 5 weeks – since 8/4/11. In addition, the sophomore ABC drama was up over its year-ago season finale by 4% in Total Viewers (4.9 million on 9/9/10).
On average during its sophomore season, “Rookie Blue” improved ABC’s performance in the 10 o’clock hour by 24% in Total Viewers and by 31% in Adults 18-49 over the comparable nights last summer. In fact during its run, “Rookie Blue” delivered ABC’s best summertime results in the time slot with a regular program in 5 years among Total Viewers and in 3 years among Adults 18-49 – since “Primetime” in summer 2006 and “Hopkins” in summer 2008, respectively.
Saturday
With coverage of “NASCAR Series at Richmond,” ABC led its broadcast competition on Saturday night, outpacing runner-up CBS with its coverage of the “U.S. Open” by 3.1 million viewers (6.2 million vs. 3.1 million) and by 89% in Adults 18-49 (1.7/6 vs. 0.9/3).
Airing from 7:30-11:15 p.m., Saturday night’s race at Richmond was up over ABC’s most-recent Sprint Cup race on the night two weeks ago (“NASCAR Series at Bristol” on 8/27/11) by 22% in viewers (6.2 million vs. 5.1 million) and by 31% in young adults (1.7/6 vs. 1.3/4).
In addition, Saturday night’s race improved over the year-ago race at Richmond by 17% in Total Viewers and by 13% in Adults 18-49 (5.3 million and 1.5/5 on 9/11/10), marking ABC’s most-watched-ever NASCAR Sprint Cup race on the night.
Sunday
“20/20 SP Edition-9/11” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
Building on its lead-in by wide margins in viewers (+23% – 5.4 million vs. 4.4 million) and young adults (+60% – 1.6/4 vs. 1.0/2) opposite the conclusion of NBC’s record-setting “Sunday Night Football” season premiere game (Dallas Cowboys-NY Jets), ABC’s “20/20 SP Edition-9/11 – Remembrance and Renewal: 10 Years After the 9/11 Attacks” registered as the top non-sports program in the 10 o’clock hour.
Despite airing against the big NFL contest, the “20/20 SP Edition-9/11” improved its time period by double-digit percentages week to week and key Adults (+23% in AD18-49/+24% in AD25-54), delivering ABC’s top Adult 25-54 number (2.1/5) in the hour in 4 weeks – since 8/14/11.
The ABC newsmagazine special more than doubled the Net’s numbers in the hour year to year among Total Viewers (+157%), Adults 18-49 (+129%) and Adults 25-54 (+163%), outperforming original programming on the year-ago night against the “Sunday Night Football” (“The Gates” = 2.1 million, 0.7/2 in AD18-49 and 0.8/2 in AD25-54).
WEEK NO. 51: ADULTS 18-49 TOTAL VIEWERS
No.1 NBC 3.9 No.1 NBC 11,130,000
No.2 FOX 1.6 No.2 CBS 6,280,000
No.3 CBS 1.5 No.3 ABC 4,810,000
No.4 ABC 1.4 No.4 FOX 4,320,000
No.5 CW 0.3 No.5 CW 870,000
(Source: ABC -The Nielsen Company, National, Live+ Same Day Program Ratings, week of 9/5/11)
