Quick Take for Wednesday, October 31, 2007 (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings)

ABC is No. 1 on Halloween in Adults 18-49, its 5th Time in the 6 Weeks This Season To Deliver the No. 1 Position on the Evening in the Key Young Adult Sales Demo

"Pushing Daisies" Dominates the 8 O'clock Hour in Viewers and Adults 18-49, Qualifying as the Top Series in its Slot with Key Adults on All 5 of its Airings

ABC's "Private Practice" is Wednesday's No. 1 TV Series Among Adults 18-49 for the Sixth Consecutive Week

Taking Second in its Slot to CBS' Veteran "C.S.I.: NY," ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money" Bests NBC's Competing 10pm Freshman Drama, "Life," by its Biggest Margins Yet

Wednesday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)

For the fifth time in the six weeks this season, ABC ranked as the No. 1 network on Wednesday among Adults 18-49 (3.1/9-tie). ABC was also the highest-rated network on Halloween evening in Adults 18-34 (2.6/8) and across the key women demographics: W18-34 (3.8/12), W18-49 (4.2/12) and W25-54 (5.1/13).

Please note: Due to the nature of Halloween, as many viewers were preoccupied with festivities surrounding the holiday, overall TV usage declined substantially week to week. Versus the prior Wednesday, overall Household television usage dropped -7% (HUT = 58.6 vs. 63.2) and Adult 18-49 usage dropped by -11% (AD18-49 PUT = 34.7 vs. 38.8). Among Women 18-34, week to week TV usage declined an even sharper -15% (31.0 vs. 36.6).

"Pushing Daisies" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)

"Pushing Daisies" dominated the 8 o'clock hour, beating out its nearest competitors by 1.7 million viewers (8.6 million vs. 6.9 million � CBS' "Kid Nation") and by 30% in Adults 18-49 (2.6/8 vs. 2.0/6 � CBS' "Kid Nation" and NBC's "Phenomenon" tied). In fact ABC's "Daisies" has been No. 1 television series in the 8 o'clock hour for five straight weeks (on each of its telecasts) across each of the adult demographics (AD18-34/AD18-49/AD25-54).

"Private Practice" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)

ABC's "Private Practice" stood as Wednesday's No. 1 TV series with young adults for the sixth week in a row. Among Adults 18-49 during the 9 o'clock hour, ABC's "Private Practice" (3.8/10) defeated CBS' "Criminal Minds" by 9% (3.5/9) and NBC's second half of a 2-hour "Phenomenon" by 46% (2.6/7). In addition to standing as the highest-rated TV series of the night in Adults 18-49, "Private Practice" was also Wednesday's No. 1 TV program with Adults18-34, leading its nearest time slot competition by 48% (3.4/10 vs. 2.3/7 � NBC).

"Dirty Sexy Money" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)

Taking second to CBS' veteran "C.S.I.: NY," ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money" defeated its freshman drama competition during the 10 o'clock hour, NBC's "Life," by a best-ever 2.6 million viewers (8.4 million vs. 5.8 million) and by 53% in Adults 18-49 (2.9/8 vs. 1.9/5). The new ABC series ranked No. 1 in its time period in Adults 18-34 (2.4/7) and Women 18-34 (3.3/10), qualifying as the No. 2 TV program of the evening on both counts, behind only "Private Practice."

A note about increasing DVR penetration and year to year rating comparisons: Year-to-year rating trends based on the Live + Same Day data stream may be somewhat distorted by the level of DVR penetration in the Nielsen sample, which has more than doubled from approximately 9% at this time last year up to more than 20% currently. More viewers are watching shows on their own timetables, which may not be reflected in the overnight next day numbers. Therefore, 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.

Source: Nielsen Media Research (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings), 10/31/07.