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[05/18/09 - 10:40 AM]
ABC Wins the Final 5 Sundays of the 2008-09 TV Season in Adults 18-49
ABC spins the numbers for Sunday, May 17.

[via press release from ABC]

Quick Take for Sunday, May 17, 2009 (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings)

ABC Wins the Final 5 Sundays of the 2008-09 TV Season in Adults 18-49, While Placing No. 1 on Every May Sweep Sunday for 5 Consecutive Years

The Net Marks its Top Sunday in 11 Weeks in Viewers and Young Adults

For the 5th Straight Week, ABC's "Desperate Housewives" is Sunday's No. 1 TV Show in Both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49

"Home Edition" Wins from 7-8pm in Adults 18-49, Putting ABC into First Place in the Hour for the 5th Week in a Row

Finishing a Strong No. 2 in the 8pm Hour to CBS' "Survivor" Finale, ABC's "Home Edition" Finale Posts the Series' Best Numbers in the Time Slot in 7 Weeks

Winning its 2-Hour Time Period Over CBS' "Survivor" Finale, ABC's "Housewives" Finale Attracts ABC's Biggest Non-Oscar Audience in the Time Slot Since September

Sunday Night (7:00-11:00 p.m.)

Opposite season finale programming on the night from CBS with three hours of "Survivor" finale coverage and Fox with its animated comedy finales, ABC finished No. 1 on each of the final 5 Sundays of the '08-09 TV Season among Adults 18-49 (3.6/10). In fact by winning each Sunday of the 2009 May Sweep, ABC marked its 5th consecutive May to rank No. 1 on every Sunday of the sweep period � 20 consecutive May Sundays from 2005-2009.

� In Total Viewers (10.8 million) and Adults 18-49 (3.6/10), ABC generated its strongest Sunday in 11 weeks � since 3/1/09.

� For the 5th consecutive Sunday, ABC's "Desperate Housewives" qualified as the No. 1 TV show in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49. "Housewives" marked its 22nd time in 23 original broadcasts this season to stand as Sunday's No. 1 entertainment series with viewers and young adults.

"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition-7P" (7:00-8:00 p.m.)

ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition-7P" won Sunday's 7 o'clock hour Adults 18-49 (1.9/6), beating out its nearest competitor by 27% (1.5/5 � CBS "60 Minutes"). In fact it was the 5th consecutive week for ABC to lead the opening hour on Sunday in the key young adult sales demo.

"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)

Against season finales on CBS ("Survivor") and Fox ("The Simpsons"/"King of the Hill") in the 8 o'clock hour, ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" surged from its lead-in by 3.2 million (9.2 million vs. 6.0 million) viewers and by 58% in Adults 18-49 (3.0/8 vs. 1.9/6) to place a strong No. 2 in the hour, ahead of the Fox animated comedy finales. "Home Edition" finished No. 1 in its time slot with Women 18-34 (2.7/8) for the 6th time in its past 7 original telecasts.

� "Home Edition" produced its best viewer and young adult numbers in the hour in 2 months � since 3/29/09.

"Desperate Housewives" (9:00-11:00 p.m.)

Sunday's No. 1 TV show, ABC's "Desperate Housewives" won its 2-hour time period, beating out CBS' "Survivor" finale coverage by 1.2 million viewers (13.9 million vs. 12.7 million) and by 9% in Adults 18-49 (4.7/12 vs. 4.3/11).

� Growing week to week by 1.6 million viewers and by 15% in Adults 18-49 (5/10/09 = 12.3 million and 4.1/11), "Housewives" attracted the series biggest audience in 2 months and hit its best Adult 18-49 number in 4 weeks � since 3/22/09 and 4/19/09, respectively.

� Excluding only Oscar Sunday, the 5th-season finale of "Desperate Housewives" generated ABC's biggest audience in the time period since season-premiere Sunday in September and its highest Adult 18-49 number in more than 5 months � since 9/28/08 and 12/7/08, respectively.

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), 5/17/09.





  [may 2009]  
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· 60 MINUTES (CBS)
· DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (ABC)
· EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION (HGTV)
· KING OF THE HILL (HULU)
· SIMPSONS, THE (FOX)
· SURVIVOR (CBS)





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