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





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