Quick Take for Thursday, September 21, 2006 (Fast Affiliate Ratings)
Leading the Night by a Wide Margin in Adults 18-49, ABC
Delivers its Strongest Season Opening Thursday in at Least 15 Years
In its Third Season Premiere, ABC�s �Grey�s Anatomy� Emerges as Thursday�s
No. 1 TV Show, Outpacing CBS� �CSI� by 3 Million Viewers and 45% in Adults 18-49
�Grey�s Anatomy� Soars by 6.1 Million Viewers and 31% in Adults 18-49 from its Year-Ago Opener, with ABC�s Best Numbers in the Time Period Since May 2000
Beating Out CBS� Debut of �Shark� by 38% in Adults 18-49, the Series Debut of ABC�s �Six Degrees� Logs the Net�s Top Number in the Time Slot in 3-1/2 Years
�Six Degrees� Qualifies as ABC�s Strongest Thursday Night Scripted
Series Debut Since 1994 in Total Viewers and Since 1991 in Adults 18-49
Thursday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)
ABC won the first Thursday of the 2006-07 TV Season by 20% in Adults 18-49 over second-place CBS (7.2/19 vs. 6.0/16). It was the Net's first victory in the key young adult sales demographic on a season opening Thursday since at least 1991 � the start of Nielsen�s electronic database.
� ABC was up by 9.1 million viewers and by 227% in Adults 18-49 from the same night a year ago (8.2 million & 2.2/6 on 9/22/05). In fact ABC delivered its strongest opening Thursday numbers in at least 15 years - since at least 1991.
� In Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, ABC marked its best performance on any Thursday night with entertainment programming since May 4, 2000.
�Grey�s Anatomy: Complications of the Heart� (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
Carrying momentum over from the strong numbers put up by the �Grey's� season finale repeat the previous evening (Wednesday, 9/20/06 from 9:00-11:00 p.m.), the �Grey's Anatomy: Complications of the Heart� clip show put ABC into a solid second-place during the opening hour on Thursday in Total Viewers (13.5 million) and Adults 18-49 (4.8/13). The �Grey�s� clip show ranked No. 1 in the hour among Women 18-34, beating CBS� �Survivor� by 19% (6.3/18 vs. 5.3/15).
� Warming up the time period for ABC, as the Network prepares for the debut of �Ugly Betty� in the hour in a week (on 9/28/06), the special generated ABC's best viewer and young adult numbers in that hour in 6 months � since 3/16/06.
�Grey�s Anatomy� (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Thursday�s No. 1 TV program, ABC's season premiere of �Grey's Anatomy� dominated its new time period, beating CBS' �C.S.I.� by 3.1 million viewers (25.1 million vs. 22.0 million) and by 45% in Adults 18-49 (10.9/26 vs. 7.5/18). �Grey's� advantage over �C.S.I.� in Adults 18-34 stood at an enormous 91% (10.5/28 vs. 5.5/15). �Grey's Anatomy� became the first non-finale of any series to beat an original �C.S.I.� in 2-1/2 years among Adults 18-49 - since 4/1/04. Furthermore, it�s the first scripted non-finale series ever to draw a larger audience than �C.S.I.� in original Thursday head-to-head competition.
� In its third premiere, �Grey's Anatomy� offered ABC its best numbers in the time period with series programming since May 2000 - since 5/25/00 in Total Viewers and 5/4/00 in Adults 18-49.
� Versus its season premiere last year which came out of �Desperate Housewives,� �Grey's� was up by 6.1 million viewers and 31% in Adults 18-49 (19.0 million & 8.3/20 on 9/25/05). It was the third-highest-rated telecast ever for the series, behind only Parts 1 & 2 of its post-Super Bowl episode.
�Six Degrees� (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
Up against CBS' well promoted series debut of �Shark� and NBC's season opener for time period veteran �ER,� the series debut of �Six Degrees� delivered ABC's best non-sports performance in the hour in 3-1/2 years in both Total Viewers (13.3 million) and Adults 18-49 (5.8/15) - since 2/6/03. ABC's debut telecast of �Six Degrees� beat CBS' debut of �Shark� by a strong 38% in Adults 18-49 (5.8/15 vs. 4.2/11).
� Versus the same night last year, ABC's numbers catapulted in the hour by 5.7 million viewers and by 123% in Adults 18-49 (7.6 million viewers and 2.6/7 in AD18-49).
� �Six Degrees� represents ABC's strongest Thursday night scripted series debut in Total Viewers since 1994 and top-rated among Adults 18-49 since 1991.
� The retention of �Six Degrees� coming out of �Grey's� in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49 (53% in Total Viewers/53% in Adults 18-49) was nearly identical to the retention that CBS saw in the same time period with the series debut of �Without a Trace� (53% in Total Viewers/50% in Adults 18-49 on 9/26/02). �Without a Trace� went on to become a key program for CBS, now entering it fifth season and currently being used by CBS to build up Sunday night.
Source: Nielsen Media Research (Fast Affiliate Ratings, Live+SD), 9/21/06
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