or


[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.





  [may 2009]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
     


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





most recent ratings | view all posts
[10/03/25 - 02:17 PM]
ESPN's Record-Setting '25 MLB Wild Card Series
Across eight games, the MLB Wild Card Series is averaging 4.4 million viewers, up 65% from last year.

[10/03/25 - 12:07 PM]
"Dancing with the Stars" Continues to Shatter Records - Growing Two Weeks in a Row Since Season Premiere for First Time Since 2005
Plus: "High Potential" hit a season high in Total Viewers (4.24 million), growing by double digits over the show's comparable third episode from last fall.

[10/02/25 - 04:09 PM]
ESPN Delivers the Most-Watched WNBA Semifinals Ever
Game 5 between the Indiana Fever and the Las Vegas Aces averaged 1.8 million viewers, peaking at 2.1 million.

[10/02/25 - 02:51 PM]
ESPN's Record-Setting Day One of MLB Wild Card Series
Coverage of Red Sox versus Yankees averaged 6.5 million viewers, peaking at 9.9 million.

[10/02/25 - 11:00 AM]
"Survivor" and "The Amazing Race" Season Premieres Hit Their Largest 3-Day Streaming Viewerships Ever
The "Survivor" season 49 premiere grew to 6.83 million viewers with three days of multiplatform viewership; while "The Amazing Race" season 38 premiere grew to 4.01 million viewers.

[10/02/25 - 09:38 AM]
"Celebrity Wheel of Fortune" Scores on Friday Nights with Biggest Total Viewer Audience in Nearly Two Years
"Celebrity Wheel of Fortune" stood as the No. 1 program of the night, rising by double digits in Total Viewers over its previous season premiere.

[10/01/25 - 10:27 AM]
"Big Brother" Season Finale Is Most-Watched Episode in Over Three Years
The finale was up +33% from its year ago finale and up +33% from this season's average.

[09/30/25 - 03:44 PM]
ESPN and ABC Win College Football's Week 5; "College GameDay's" Most-Viewed Season Rolls On
ABC is off to its best start ever with 7.1 million average viewers per game, and the network has aired eight of the top 10 most-viewed games this season.

[09/30/25 - 02:08 PM]
Packers-Cowboys OT Thriller Averages 26.9 Million Viewers on NBC & Peacock, As NBC Sports Opens with Best Four-Week Audience Average in 20 Seasons of NBC "SNF"
The audience peaked at 29.9 million viewers in the second quarter (9-9:15 p.m. ET).

[09/30/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of September 22: "Wayward" Lures Viewers at No. 1, "KPop Demon Hunters" Sets Top 10 Record
New on Netflix this week is "House of Guinness," a historical drama series created by Steven Knight, which debuted at No. 3 on the English TV list with 5.2 million views.

[09/30/25 - 10:24 AM]
"High Potential" Season Premiere Vaults to Nearly 16 Million in First Week Across Platforms
This marks ABC's best season premiere for a drama among Total Viewers in five years.

[09/29/25 - 06:06 AM]
ESPN's 2025 MLB Game Viewership Up 21 Percent from Last Year
Coverage delivered 1.8 million viewers on average across 30 games this season.

[09/26/25 - 01:11 PM]
"Dancing with the Stars" Week Two Delivers Over 5 Million Total Viewers Rising Over Season Premiere for First Time in 14 Years
Once again, the show led its time period and stood as the No. 1 show of the night in Total Viewers (5.46 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.02 rating).

[09/25/25 - 02:05 PM]
Viewers Have Watched More Than 8 Billion Minutes of "Big Brother" This Summer - Up +27% from Last Year
Multiplatform average episode viewership grew to 5.1 million, up +23% versus last year in 35-days of viewing, outpacing the competition.

[09/24/25 - 02:47 PM]
"Jimmy Kimmel Live" Returned on Tuesday to 6.26 Million Total Viewers on Broadcast, According to Initial Live+Same Day Measurement
In addition to linear ratings, the monologue has garnered more than 26 million views across YouTube and social platforms.