Quick Take for Wednesday, March 25, 2009 (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings)

Continuing to See Year-to-Year Improvement on the Night, ABC is Up Over the Year-Ago Wednesday on 7 of the Past 8 Weeks in Adults 18-49

For its 9th Consecutive Original Airing This Season, ABC's "Lost" Registers as Wednesday's No. 1 Scripted TV Program with Adults 18-49

"Scrubs" Finishes No. 2 to "Idol" at 8pm Among Adults 18-34 and Key Men

With Strong Retention of its Lead-in and of its Week-Ago Series Debut, "Better Off Ted" Dominates its Freshman NBC Competition at 8:30pm

"Lost" Takes Full Control of its Drama Competition in the 9pm Hour Among Adults 18-49, Topping CBS' "Criminal Minds" and NBC's "Life" by Wide Margins

"Life on Mars" is Up for the 2nd Straight Week in Viewers and Young Adults

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

ABC finished No. 2 to Fox (with a 2-hour "Idol) Wednesday night in Adults 18-34 (2.3/7) and key Men: M18-34 (2.2/7) and M18-49 (2.5/7). Among Adults 18-34, ABC (2.3/7) bested third-place CBS by 28% (1.8/5) and fourth-place NBC by 109% (1.1/3).

� Continuing to deliver year-to-year increases on the night, ABC's Wednesday results were up from the same night last year (3/26/08) by 10% in Total Viewers (6.5 million vs. 5.9 million) and by 35% in Adults 18-49 (2.7/7 vs. 2.0/5). The Net has delivered gains over the year-ago Wednesday on 7 of the last 8 weeks in the key young adult sales demo.

"Scrubs" (8:00-8:30 p.m.)

ABC's "Scrubs" placed second to "American Idol" at 8:00 p.m. among Adults 18-34 (1.9/6), Men 18-34 (1.8/7) and Men 18-49 (1.9/6), beating out CBS' "Survivor" special on all three counts.

"Better Off Ted" (8:30-9:00 p.m.)

Despite facing "Idol" and "Survivor" on its second airing, ABC's "Better Off Ted" continued to demonstrate strong retention of its "Scrubs" lead-in in viewers (89%) and young adults (90%). Like its lead-in, "Better Off Ted" beat out "Survivor" in Adults 18-34, outpacing the CBS special by 31% (1.7/5 vs. 1.3/4). Versus its freshman competition in the half-hour, "Ted" defeated NBC's "Chopping Block" by 2.3 million viewers (4.7 million vs. 2.4 million) and by 125% in Adults 18-49 (1.8/5 vs. 0.8/2).

� Although it aired against increased competition on its second week, "Better Off Ted" exhibited solid retention of its week-earlier series debut in Total Viewers (85%) and Adults 18-49 (86%).

"Lost" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)

Surging from its lead-in opposite the second hour of Fox's 2-hour "American Idol," "Lost" took full control its drama competition in the time period among Adults 18-49. During the 9 o'clock hour, ABC's "Lost" (4.0/10) beat out CBS' "Criminal Minds" by 18% (3.4/8) and NBC's "Life" by 186% (1.4/3).

� ABC's "Lost" marked its 9th consecutive original airing as Wednesday's No. 1 scripted TV program in Adults 18-49. The ABC drama was also the night's top-rated scripted series in the other two Adult demographics: Adults 18-34 (3.7/10) and Adults 25-54 (4.4/10-tie).

"Life on Mars" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)

Posting its 2nd consecutive week of gains, "Life on Mars" grew over the prior week by 14% in Total Viewers (5.7 million vs. 5.0 million) and by 17% in Adult 18-49 (2.1/6 vs. 1.8/5).

A note about increasing DVR penetration and year-to-year rating comparisons: Year-to-year rating comparisons based on the Live + Same Day data stream are distorted by the level of DVR penetration in the Nielsen sample, which has jumped up to over 30% currently, from 23% at the same point in 2008. 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), 3/25/09.