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Primetime Ratings Report For the week of May 8-14, 2006
ABC is Up Over the Prior Week for the Third Week in a Row in Viewers
And Adults 18-49, Marking its Highest Adult 18-34 Rating in 7 Weeks
For the Second Consecutive Week, ABC Airs 3 of the Top 7 TV Programs
In Adults 18-49, Including the No. 1 Scripted Series with �Grey�s Anatomy�
Season to date ABC is Up the Most Among Viewers and Young Adults, Also
Posting Seasonal Gains with Entertainment Series and Non-Sports Programming
�David Blaine: Drowned Alive� Attracts ABC�s Strongest Men 18-34 Number in the Monday 8-10pm Time Period with Entertainment Programming in More Than 3 Years
Up from the Most Recent David Blaine Special, ABC�s �David Blaine: Drowned Alive�
Climbs Dramatically During its Telecast to Win its Final Half-hour in Adults 18-49
On its Season Finale, ABC�s �What About Brian� Posts
Its Highest Young Adult Ratings in the Time Period
Wednesday�s No. 1 Scripted TV Series, ABC�s �Lost� Equals its Top Numbers since February, While Growing its Adult 18-49 Audience 6% from the Same Night Last Year
�American Inventor� Grows Week to Week in Viewers and Young Adults, Improving The Thursday 9 O�clock Hour by 3.7 Million Viewers and by 89% in Adults 18-49
�20/20� Posts its Strongest Ratings in Nearly 4 Months Across the Key Adult Demos
Winning Sunday for the 16th Consecutive Week in Adults 18-49, ABC Leads
By Wide Margins Over CBS� Season Finale of �Survivor: Panama, Exile Island�
For the 4th Straight Telecast, ABC�s �America�s Funniest Home Videos�
Ranks No. 1 During the Sunday 7 O�clock Hour Among Adults 18-49
ABC�s �Desperate Housewives� Dominates Sunday from 9-10pm, Outdelivering
CBS� �Survivor� Finale by 3.8 Million Viewers and by 28% Among Adults 18-49
Sunday�s No. 1 TV Program in Viewers and Young Adults, Part 1 of ABC�s �Grey�s Anatomy� Season Finale Defeats NBC and CBS Combined at 10pm in Adults 18-49
WEEK No. 34:
For the third consecutive week, ABC took second place to �Idol�-fueled Fox among Adults 18-34 (2.9/9), Men 18-34 (2.3/8), Women 18-34 (3.4/10-tie) and Teens 12-17 (1.8/7). The network has held the No. 2 position in Adults 18-34 for 7 consecutive weeks.
� For the third straight frame, the Network was up from the prior week in viewers and Adults 18-49. Additionally, ABC posted its top Adult 18-34 rating in 7 weeks and its top rating among Men 18-34 in 10 weeks � since the weeks of 3/20 & 2/27/06, respectively.
� As the official 2005-06 TV Season wraps up next week (on 5/24/06), ABC is the network of growth. ABC�s primetime numbers are up by 7% in Total Viewers (10.8 million vs. 10.1 million) and by 8% in Adults 18-49 (4.0/11 vs. 3.7/10) over the same point a year ago. With its highest-rated season in 5 years (best since the 2000-01 TV Season), ABC is the only network to improve its performance over last season in the key Adult 18-49 sales demographic. ABC�s increases are driven largely by its regular entertainment series programming, up by 8% in Total Viewers and by 5% in Adults 18-49 over its averages with regularly scheduled series programming at the same point last season. In addition, the Net�s non-sports numbers are up over last season by 3% in viewers and by 3% in Adults 18-49.
Rankings: For the second straight week, ABC claimed 3 of the week�s Top 7 TV programs in the key Adult 18-49 sales demographic: �Grey�s Anatomy� � No. 3, �Desperate Housewives� � No. 6 and �Lost� � No. 7. Additionally, �Grey�s� (No. 5) and �Housewives� (No. 6) and �Lost� (No. 11) finished among the week�s Top 15 most-watched television programs for the week. �Grey�s Anatomy� once again qualified as TV�s No. 1 scripted program in the key Adult 18-49 sales demographic.
Monday
Boosted by a strong demographic turn-out for �David Blaine Drowned Alive,� ABC earned second place on Monday night among Adults 18-34 (3.7/11), Men 18-34 (3.1/10), Women 18-34 (4.3/11) and Teens 12-17 (2.8/9), while ranking No. 1 on the night with Kids 2-11 (1.6/6-tie).
� Versus the same night last May (5/9/05), ABC was up by 2.4 million viewers (8.8 million vs. 6.4 million) and by 52% in Adults 18-49 (3.8/10 vs. 2.5/6).
�David Blaine: Drowned Alive� (8:00-10:00 p.m.)
�David Blaine Drowned Alive� took second place in its competitive 2-hour time period among Adults 18-34 (4.0/11) and ranked No. 1 with Teens 12-17 (3.4/10) and Kids 2-11 (2.1/7). Growing by 6.8 million viewers (7.1 million to 13.9 million) and by 135% in Adults 18-49 (2.6/8 to 6.1/14) from start to finish, the David Blaine special ranked No. 1 in its final half-hour among Adults 18-49, pacing ahead of Fox�s �24� (6.1/14 vs. 5.8/13).
� �David Blaine: Drowned Alive� was up over the most recent David Blaine special (ABC�s �David Blaine�s Vertigo� on 5/22/02) in Total Viewers (10.1 million vs. 8.9 million) and Adults 18-49 (4.2/11 vs. 4.0/10).
� �David Blaine: Drowned Alive� produced ABC�s highest Adult 18-49 rating in the time period in 13 weeks (since 2/6/06), matching the strongest number since �Monday Night Football� concluded in December. A strong draw among young men, �Drowned Alive� generated the Net�s top Men 18-34 number (3.7/11) in the time slot with entertainment programming in more than 3 years � since 1/13/03.
�What About Brian� (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
In its season finale, ABC�s �What About Brian� marked its best ratings in the time period among Adults 18-49 (3.2/8-tie) and Adults 18-34 (3.1/9).
Wednesday
ABC matched its largest Wednesday night audience (10.3 million) and top Adult 18-49 rating (4.2/11) on the evening in 7 weeks � since 3/22/06.
�Alias� (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
Building audience from its first to its second half-hour, ABC�s �Alias� was up from the prior week by 15% in Total Viewers (6.1 million vs. 5.3 million) and by 22% in Adults 18-49 (2.2/6 vs. 1.8/5).
�Lost� (9:00-10:05 p.m.)
Starting out opposite Fox�s �American Idol� results show (9:00-9:32 p.m.), ABC�s �Lost� continued to build sharply on its lead and gain audience throughout its broadcast to finish a dominant No. 1 at 9:30pm in viewers and young adults. In its 9 o�clock time period, �Lost� (16.4 million & 6.9/16) held wide advantages over its CBS drama competition in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49 (Season finale of �Criminal Minds� = 12.7 million & 3.6/8).
� �Lost� equaled its largest audience (16.4 million) and top Adult 18-49 rating (6.9/16) since February � since 2/15/06 and 2/8/06, respectively.
� Although it faced �American Idol� this year and did not on the same night last year, �Lost� was up 6% from its year-ago performance among Adults 18-49 (6.6/16 vs. 6.5/18 on 5/11/05).
� Exhibiting strong tune-in for ABC at 9:00 p.m. against �Idol,� �Lost� surged from its �Alias� lead-in by 10.3 million viewers and by 214% in Adults 18-49. From its first to its second half-hour, the ABC drama gained 2.0 million viewers (15.2 million to 17.2 million) and grew by 14% in Adults 18-49 (6.4/15 to 7.3/17). From 9:30-10:00 p.m., �Lost� dominated Fox�s �Idol�-dependent season finale of �Unanimous� by 3.0 million viewers (17.2 million vs. 14.2 million) and by 22% in Adults 18-49 (7.3/17 vs. 6.0/14).
� �Lost� stood as TV�s No. 1 scripted program on Wednesday among Total Viewers and Adults 18-49. The ABC sophomore drama has been the No. 1 scripted program on Wednesday in the key Adult 18-49 sales demographic in all 21 of its original telecasts this season.
�Invasion� (10:05-11:00 p.m.)
ABC�s �Invasion� marked its strongest performance since February among Total Viewers (7.7 million) and Adults 18-49 (3.0/8) � since 2/15/06.
Thursday
ABC was up week to week by 9% in Total Viewers (6.2 million vs. 5.7 million) and by 15% among Adults 18-49 (2.3/6 vs. 2.0/6).
�American Inventor� (9:00-10:02 p.m.)
At 9:00 p.m., the finale of �American Inventor� built on its lead-in by nearly 2 million viewers (7.0 million vs. 5.1 million) and by 69% among Adults 18-49 (2.7/7 vs. 1.6/5). The unscripted series also was up versus the prior week in both Nielsen measures (6.6 million & 2.6/7). �American Inventor� increased its audience by 1.0 million viewers (6.4 million to 7.4 million) and by 21% in Adults 18-49 (2.4/6 to 2.9/7) from its first to its second half-hour.
� On average, �American Inventor� has improved the 9 o�clock hour for ABC by 3.7 million viewers (9.2 million vs. 5.5 million) and by 89% in Adults 18-49 (3.6/9 vs. 1.9/5), as compared to the Net�s performance on the same nights last year.
�Primetime� (10:02-11:00 p.m.)
ABC News� �Primetime� saw increases over its performance from the prior week by 1.3 million viewers (6.5 million vs. 5.2 million) and by 65% among Adults 18-49 (2.8/7 vs. 1.7/5).
Friday
�20/20� (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
In the final hour of prime, ABC News� �20/20,� featuring John Stossel�s latest installment of �Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity,� attracted 8.7 million viewers and a 2.9 rating, 9 share among Adults 18-49, placing second in the hour in both measures. The ABC newsmagazine led the hour among Adults 18-34 (2.3/8).
� �20/20� registered is best performance in nearly 4 months (since 1/20/06) across each of the key adult demographics: Adults 18-34 (2.3/8), Among Adults 18-49 (2.9/9) and Adults 25-54 (3.5/9).
Sunday
ABC marked its 16th straight week as the No. 1 network on Sunday among Adults 18-49, beating second-place CBS with 3 hours of �Survivor� season finale coverage by 1.0 million viewers (15.6 million vs. 14.6 million) and by 27% in Adults 18-49 (6.2/16 vs. 4.9/13). Despite the special competition from CBS� highly promoted season finale of �Survivor: Panama, Exile Island,� ABC�s Sunday lineup experienced growth during each half-hour of the night among Total Viewers and Adults 18-49.
� ABC continued to tally its longest Sunday winning streak in at least 15 years, standing as the No. 1 network on the night in Adults 18-49 for 16 straight weeks � its longest streak since at least September 1991, the beginning of Nielsen�s electronic database. The Net has led the night this season in the key young adult sales demo on 29 of 34 weeks.
� ABC claimed the Top 2 TV shows on Sunday in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, with �Grey�s Anatomy� and �Desperate Housewives,� respectively.
�America�s Funniest Home Videos� (7:00-8:00 p.m.)
During the opening hour of primetime, �America�s Funniest Home Videos� ranked No. 1 in its time period for its 4th consecutive telecast among Adults 18-49 (2.5/9). The venerable ABC video clip-show also was the top-rated program in the hour across each of the key women demos (W18-34 � 2.1/8 - tie, W18-49 � 2.9/10 & W25-54 � 3.2/10 - tie), among Teens 12-17 (2.1/9) and Kids 2-11 (2.2/9).
�Extreme Makeover: Home Edition� (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
Opposite the first hour of CBS� �Survivor� finale, ABC�s �Extreme Makeover: Home Edition� delivered a solid second place from 8:00-9:00 p.m. in Total Viewers (10.9 million) and Adults 18-49 (4.2/11). The ABC unscripted series won the hour, beating �Survivor� by 9% among Women 18-34 (4.7/14 vs. 4.3/13).
�Desperate Housewives� (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
�Desperate Housewives� moved ABC up into a dominant first place during the 9 o�clock hour. ABC�s �Desperate Housewives� topped second-place CBS� �Survivor: Panama, Exile Island� by 3.8 million viewers (21.0 million vs. 17.2 million) and by 28% in Adults 18-49 (8.2/18 vs. 6.4/14).
�Grey�s Anatomy� (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
The No. 1 TV program of the evening in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, part 1 of ABC�s �Grey�s Anatomy� season finale towered over its time period competition. In the hour, �Grey�s Anatomy� outdrew second-place NBC�s season finale of �Law & Order: C.I.� by 10.0 million viewers (22.6 million vs. 12.6 million) and topped the combined deliveries of CBS (�Survivor: Reunion�) and NBC (�Law & Order: C.I.� season finale) by 15% in the key Adult 18-49 sales demographic (9.7/23 vs. 8.4/20).
� �Grey�s Anatomy� attracted its largest audience in 11 weeks � since 2/26/06.
� Original telecasts of �Grey�s Anatomy� have grown from original telecasts of �Desperate Housewives� among Adults 18-49 on all 7 airings since �Grey�s� post-�Super Bowl� telecast (2/5/06). In fact the sophomore ABC drama built 18% on its lead-in among Adults 18-49, its biggest-ever build on an original �Desperate Housewives.� In addition, �Grey�s Anatomy� has been the top-rated TV show of the night in the key Adult 18-49 sales demographic on each of its original broadcasts since the �Super Bowl.�
Source: Nielsen Media Research (Live+SD), week of 5/8/06, or as dated.
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