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[05/16/08 - 12:32 PM]
Quick Take for Thursday, May 15, 2008 (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings)
ABC spins the numbers for Thursday, May 15.

[via press release from ABC]

Quick Take for Thursday, May 15, 2008 (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings)

ABC Tops its 4th Straight Thursday of the '08 May Sweep in Adults 18-49, Winning the Key Evening on All 8 May Sweep Thursdays Over the Past 2 Years

"Grey's Anatomy" Logs its 39th Original Telecast as Thursday's No. 1 TV Show In Adults 18-49, Ranking No. 1 on Every Original Airing Since Debuting in 2006

Growing its Overall Audience for the 2nd Straight Week and Up 13% in Adults 18-49, ABC's "Ugly Betty" Wins the 8 O'clock Hour in Total Viewers and All Key Women

"Grey's" Beats the Season Finale of "C.S.I." in the 9pm Hour by 26% in Adults 18-49

"Lost" is Up Week to Week in Viewers and Young Adults and Dominates its New 10pm Slot Among Adults 18-49 Over Season Finales of Dramas on CBS and NBC

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

Against season finale competition on each of the other nets, ABC won its 4th consecutive Thursday of the 2008 May Sweep in Adults 18-49, ranking No. 1 on all 8 Thursdays during the sweep month over the past 2 years. The Net led the night by 29% over its nearest competition (4.5/12 vs. 3.5/9 � NBC), its biggest margin of victory on the night during the sweep in the key young adult sales demo. The Net also led the night in Adults 18-34 (4.1/12), Adults 25-54 (5.2/13) and in each of the key women demos: W18-34 (5.8/16), W18-49 (6.2/16) and W25-54 (7.0/16).

Editors Please Note: ABC's Thursday season finales will occur over the next two weeks, with "Ugly Betty" (8:00-9:00 p.m.) and "Grey's Anatomy" (9:00-11:00 p.m.) on 5/22/08 and "Lost" (9:00-11:00 p.m.) on 5/29/08.

"Ugly Betty" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)

Growing its overall audience for the 2nd week in a row, ABC's "Ugly Betty" was the most-watched TV show during the 8 o'clock hour, outdrawing season finale programming on both NBC ("My Name is Earl") and Fox ("Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?"). On the penultimate episode of its sophomore season, "Betty" also ranked No. 1 in its slot across the key women demographics: W18-34 (4.0/12), W18-49 (4.0/12) and W25-54 (4.8/13).

� Opposite season finale competition, "Betty" increased its overall audience for the 2nd straight week (8.5 million vs. 8.0 million) and jumped by 13% week to week in Adults 18-49 (2.7/8 vs. 2.4/7). It was the show's highest Adult 18-49 rating since January � since 1/24/08.

"Grey's Anatomy" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)

For the 4th consecutive week since its return to original episodes, ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" won its 9 o'clock time and ranked as Thursday's No. 1 TV program across each of the key adult demographics: Adults 18-34 (5.6/16) Adults 18-49 (5.9/15) and Adults 25-54 (6.7/15). Head to head in the time period, "Grey's" beat the season finale of CBS' "C.S.I." by 26% in Adults 18-49 (5.9/15 vs. 4.7/12). Standing as Thursday's No. 1 TV show on every single original airing since premiering on the evening in 2006, "Grey's Anatomy" tallied its 39th straight original telecast as the night's top show in the key Adult 18-49 sales demo.

"Lost" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)

No. 1 in its new time period for 4 weeks in a row, ABC's "Lost" overshadowed its 10 o'clock competition among Adults 18-49 (5.0/13), defeating second-place CBS' season finale of "Without a Trace" by 39% (3.6/10) and third-place NBC's "ER" finale by 52% (3.3/9). In fact "Lost" ranked No. 1 in its time period among Adults 18-49 for its 12th consecutive original airing this season. "Lost" ranked No. 1 in Thursday's 10:00 p.m. hour for the 4th straight week in all key adults, men and women.

� "Lost" was up from the prior week among Total Viewers (11.4 million vs. 10.8 million) and Adults 18-49 (5.0/13 vs. 4.7/13), increasing its overall audience for the 2nd week in a row.

� Continuing to demonstrate strong retention of its "Grey's" lead-in with key adults, "Lost" built on its lead-in for the 4th time in as many weeks across all key men demos (M18-34/M18-49/M25-54). "Lost" was Thursday's No. 1 TV show with Men 18-49 (4.2/12) for the 4th straight week.

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 jumped from over 15% at the same point in 2006-07, up to more than 24% currently. 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.

Source: Nielsen Media Research (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings), 5/15/08.





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· ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A FIFTH GRADER? (NICKELODEON)
· CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION (CBS)
· ER (NBC)
· GREY'S ANATOMY (ABC)
· LOST (ABC)
· MY NAME IS EARL (NBC)
· UGLY BETTY (ABC)
· WITHOUT A TRACE (CBS)





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