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[05/15/09 - 11:34 AM]
ABC Wins Its 4th Consecutive Thursday Night of the 2009 May Sweep in Adults 18-49
ABC spins the numbers for Thursday, May 14.
[via press release from ABC]

Quick Take for Thursday, May 14, 2009 (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings)

ABC Wins its 4th Consecutive Thursday Night of the 2009 May Sweep in Adults 18-49, Finishing No. 1 on Every Thursday in May for 3 Years Straight

Growing its Overall Thursday Audience for the 6th Week in a Row, ABC Turns in its Best Results Since Season-Premiere Thursday in September

"Ugly Betty" Tops NBC's Comedy Finales from 8-9pm by 2.3 Million Viewers

Thursday's No. 1 TV Show in Both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, "Grey's Beats CBS' Season Finales from 9-11pm by 2.8 Million Viewers and by 81% in Adults 18-49

On its 5th Season Finale, "Grey's Anatomy" Generates its Second-Biggest Audience of the Season and Achieves a 3-Month-High Among Adults 18-49

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

Beating out season-finale programming on the other nets, ABC won its 4th consecutive Thursday of the 2009 May Sweep in Adults 18-49, outdelivering its nearest competitor by 32% (4.5/13 vs. 3.4/9 � CBS). In fact in the key young adult sales demo, ABC has now finished No. 1 on every May Sweep Thursday for the past 3 years � starting in May 2007 for 12 consecutive Thursdays. ABC made it a clean sweep on the final Thursday of the 2008-09 TV season, placing No. 1 in Total Viewers and across all key Adult demos (AD18-34/AD18-49/AD25-54).

� Growing its overall audience for the 6th consecutive Thursday, ABC generated its largest audience (13.2 million) and matched its second-highest Adult 18-49 rating (4.5/13) since season-premiere Thursday on 9/25/08.

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

On its penultimate episode for the season, "Ugly Betty" outdrew its NBC comedy competition in the 8 o'clock hour (season finales of "My Name is Earl" and "Parks and Recreation") by 2.3 million viewers (6.8 million vs. 4.5 million). Please Note: "Betty" concludes its season in a 2-hour finale next Thursday (5/21/09) from 8:00-10:00 p.m.

"Grey's Anatomy" (9:00-11:00 p.m.)

On its 5th-season finale, ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" retained its status as Thursday's No. 1 TV show in both Total Viewers (16.4 million) and Adults 18-49 (5.8/16). The ABC medical-drama's season ender dominated its 2-hour time period, outpacing second-place CBS' season finales of "CSI" and "CSI: NY" by 2.8 million viewers and by 81% in Adults 18-49 (CBS = 13.6 million and 3.2/9). In fact "Grey's" marked its 17th time in its past 18 original telecasts to stand as Thursday's No. 1 regular entertainment series in Adults 18-49, closing out its season with a winning streak of 11 straight original broadcasts.

� Building its numbers for the 3rd week in a row, "Grey's" turned in its most-watched telecast since its September season opener and posted its highest Adult 18-49 number in 3 months � since 9/25/08 and 2/19/09, respectively.

� Compared to the same night last year when it also faced season finale programming on the other networks, "Grey's" increased its overall audience by 5% (16.4 million vs. 15.6 million on 5/15/08). Please Note: The actual season finale for "Grey's" last year aired outside of the TV season on 5/22/08, against repeat programming on CBS and summer programming on NBC and Fox.

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 31% currently, from 24% 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), 5/14/09.





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· CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION (CBS)
· CSI: NEW YORK (CBS)
· GREY'S ANATOMY (ABC)
· MY NAME IS EARL (NBC)
· PARKS & RECREATION (NBC)
· UGLY BETTY (ABC)




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