or


[09/03/08 - 02:43 PM]
Primetime Ratings Report for the Week of August 25, 2008 (Based on National Live + Same Day Program Ratings)
ABC spins the numbers for the week of August 25-31.

[via press release from ABC]

Primetime Ratings Report For the week of August 25, 2008 (Based on National Live + Same Day Program Ratings)

ABC Posts Week-to-Week Increases in Viewers and Adults 18-49, Drawing its Best Numbers in 4 Weeks

ABC 3rd Season Premiere of "Saturday Night Football" Ranks as The Week's No. 1 Program in Men 18-49 and No. 2 in Men 18-34

ABC News' "20/20" is the Week's No. 1 Newsmag in Adults 18-49

On its First Regular Telecast Since July, ABC's "Wipeout" Stands as Tuesday's No. 2 TV Show in Adults 18-49 to NBC's Veteran "America's Got Talent"

For its Second Consecutive Original Airing in its New Time Slot, ABC's "Wanna Bet" Achieves Series Highs with Total Viewers and Adults 18-49

Audience for "ABC News Vote '08: Democratic National Convention" Coverage Grows from the First Night, Continuing to Outdraw CBS News' Convention Coverage

For its Second Consecutive Original Airing in its New Tuesday 9pmTime Slot, ABC's "Wanna Bet" Achieves Series Highs with Total Viewers and Adults 18-49

Thursday's "ABC News Vote '08: Democratic National Convention" is the Best Among All Broadcasters for the Week, Drawing ABC's Largest Audience at 10pm Since June

ABC Wins Saturday with the "Saturday Night Football" Season Premiere in Viewers and Across All Adult Demos, and is Up Over its Year-Ago Performance

WEEK No. 49:

During the week of August 25, 2008, ABC saw week-to-week increases of 14% in Total Viewers (4.1 million vs. 3.6 million) and by 8% in Adults 18-49 (1.3/4 vs. 1.2/3), posting the Net's best weekly performance in both measures in 4 weeks � since w/o 7/28/08.

Rankings: ABC claimed 3 of the week's Top 20 TV shows in Adults 18-49: "Wipeout" � No. 7, "Vote 2008: Democratic National Convention - THU" � No. 17 and "Saturday Night Football" �No. 18. The third season premiere of "Saturday Night Football" stood as the No. 1 program of the week in Men 18-49 and ranked as the No. 2 program in Men 18-34. ABC News aired TV's Top newsmagazine of the week in Adults 18-49 with Friday's "20/20."

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 18% at the same point in 2006-07, up to 26% 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.

Tuesday

"Wipeout" (8:00-9:02 p.m.)

On its first regular original airing since July, following a 3-week break with the "Wipey Awards" (8/5) and two weeks of repeats against the Olympics (8/12 and 8/19), "Wipeout" took a strong second place to NBC's "America's Got Talent" in Adults 18-49 (2.3/7) at 8 o'clock. It was the No. 2 show of the night in the young adult demo (tied w/CBS' "Big Brother" and Fox's "House" in the 9:00 p.m. hour).

"Wanna Bet" (9:02-10:00 p.m.)

On it second original airing in its new time period, ABC's "Wanna Bet" achieved series highs in both Total Viewers (4.0 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.5/4). It was the show's second consecutive original airing to hit new highs on both Nielsen measures.

"ABC News Vote '08: The Democratic National Convention � Day 2" (10:00-11:13 p.m.)

With an average audience of 4.8 million viewers, ABC was the second-most-watched broadcaster in the 10 o'clock hour with "ABC News Vote '08: The Democratic National Convention � Day 2," outdrawing CBS News' coverage for the second night in a row, by 1 million viewers (3.8 million).

� Versus the opening night of the convention on Monday (8/25/08), ABC News' coverage jumped 14% in Total Viewers (4.8 million vs. 4.2 million) and 22% in Adults 18-49 (1.1/3 vs. 0.9/3).

Thursday

"ABC News Vote '08: The Democratic National Convention � Day 4" (10:00-11:07 p.m.)

ABC was the most-watched broadcaster (6.6 million) in the 10 o'clock hour with "ABC News Vote '08: The Democratic National Convention � Day 4," outperforming convention coverage on NBC by 8% (6.1 million) and CBS by 40% (4.7 million). In fact, ABC drew the largest audience for any of the broadcast networks covering the Democratic National Convention.

� With Night 4 drawing ABC's strongest numbers in Total Viewers (6.6 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.0/4) of convention coverage, ABC registered its highest numbers in the hour in viewers and young adults in 11 weeks � since 6/12/08.

Saturday

"Saturday Night Football: Alabama vs. Clemson and Michigan State vs. California" (8:00-11:00 p.m.)

The third season premiere of "Saturday Night Football," with games featuring Alabama vs. Clemson and Michigan State vs. California, took ABC to the top spot in Saturday prime in Total Viewers (5.7 million) and across each of the key adult demographics: Adults 18-34 (1.8/8), Adults 18-49 (1.9/7) and Adults 25-54 (2.2/7).

� Drawing it largest audience and highest young adult audience in Saturday prime in nearly 4 months (since 5/3/08), ABC was up by 16% in Total Viewers and by 6% in Adults 18-49 compared to the "Saturday Night Football" season premiere a year-ago (4.9 & 1.8/7 on 9/1/07).

Source: Nielsen Media Research (National Live+Same Day Program Ratings), week of 8/25/08, unless stated otherwise.





  [september 2008]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
 


· 20/20 (ABC)
· AMERICA'S GOT TALENT (NBC)
· BIG BROTHER (CBS)
· HOUSE (FOX)
· SATURDAY NIGHT COLLEGE FOOTBALL (ABC)
· WANNA BET? (ABC)
· WIPEOUT (TBS)





most recent ratings | view all posts
[12/17/25 - 01:30 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks #1 in Total Viewers
"Nightline" also posted week-to-week increases in Total Viewers and Adults 25-54.

[12/17/25 - 06:42 AM]
Cricket Celebration Bowl Delivered Double-Digit Increases on ABC
Coverage averaged 2.3 million viewers with a peak of 3.0 million.

[12/16/25 - 02:15 PM]
FOX NFL Week 15 Scores 19.4 Million Viewers for "America's Game of the Week"
Season-to-date, the NFL on FOX is averaging 20,055,000 viewers; up +8% over last year's average (18,630,000) and its best since 2015.

[12/16/25 - 02:15 PM]
"CBS News Presents: A Town Hall with Erika Kirk" Boosts CBS' Time Period Performance in Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49
The special delivered 1.9 million viewers with 265,000 in the adults 25-54 demographic on Saturday, December 13.

[12/16/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10: Week of December 8 - "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery" Cracks the Case at No. 1 in the Top 10
New comedy series "Man vs. Baby" took No. 1 on the English TV list with 19.1 million views, with the Rowan Atkinson vehicle eliciting laughs over the bumbling Trevor Bingley trying to earn money house-sitting for millionaires while a lost baby keeps him on his toes.

[12/15/25 - 09:19 AM]
Driven by Strong November Viewership, ESPN Earns Third Straight Month of Year-Over-Year Audience Growth for Weekday Studio Programming
Highlights include "The Pat McAfee Show" having its most-viewed November of all time across linear and YouTube with 445,000 average viewers per show and "NFL Live" reaching its second most-watched November since 2016 with 445,000 average viewers.

[12/12/25 - 03:04 PM]
ESPN Scored Most-Watched Jimmy V Women's Classic Ever; Men's Classic Most-Watched in Five Years
The former averaged 1.0 million viewers, peaking with 1.3 million.

[12/11/25 - 03:15 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in All Key Target Demos
The series also saw gains on the same week last year in Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49.

[12/10/25 - 02:59 PM]
FOX NFL Scores Massive Week 14 Viewership
28 million viewers watched FOX Sports' Week 14 "America's Game of the Week," featuring the Green Bay Packers divisional win over the Chicago Bears.

[12/10/25 - 12:08 PM]
NBCU's November to Remember Showcases the Power of Company's Programming
"All Her Fault" became the most-watched original series launch in Peacock history with 46 million hours.

[12/10/25 - 09:54 AM]
ABC Unwraps Holiday Presentations of Fan Favorite Shows
"Dancing with the Holidays" was the top-performing holiday-themed special across the broadcast networks among Adults 18-49 in two years.

[12/09/25 - 04:11 PM]
"College GameDay" Delivers Second Most-Watched Conference Championship Episode Ever; ABC/ESPN Score Second Most-Watched Conference Championship Week Since 2014
The SEC Championship delivered 16.9 million viewers on Saturday, December 6.

[12/09/25 - 02:03 PM]
18.3 Million Viewers Tuned in for Big Ten Championship Game on FOX
Indiana's win peaked with 19,993,000 viewers from 11:00-11:15 PM ET.

[12/09/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10: Week of December 1 - "My Secret Santa" Sleigh Rides to No. 1 and "Stranger Things" Slays the Top 10 Again
The extensive four-part docuseries "Sean Combs: The Reckoning" grabbed the No. 2 spot on the TV list with 21.8 million views in its opening weekend.

[12/08/25 - 11:30 AM]
College Football on The CW Network Sees Double Digit Year-Over-Year Viewership Gains for 2025 Season
ACC football experienced the largest year-over-year growth, up 26% in total audience compared to 2024.