or


[08/25/09 - 11:44 AM]
ABC Attracts Its Biggest Audience in 10 Weeks
ABC spins the numbers for the week of August 17-23.

[via press release from ABC]

Primetime Ratings Report For the week of August 17, 2009 (Based on National Live + Same Day Program Ratings)

ABC Attracts its Biggest Audience in 10 Weeks, Registering Its Most-Watched Non Sports Summer Week Since Early July �08

ABC is Up from the Same Week Last Year by Nearly 1 Million Viewers, The Network's 2nd Consecutive Week of Overall Year-to-Year Growth

Through its 11-Night Run, the 10th Anniversary "Millionaire" Event Improves its Time Slots Year to Year for ABC by 3.4 Million Viewers and by 27% in Adults 18-49

"Millionaire" is the Top Draw in its 8pm Time Slots on 3 Nights of the Week

"Dating in the Dark" Builds on Previous Week's Telecast In Total Viewers and Young Adults for the Second Week Running

"Millionaire" Earns ABC's Biggest Audience in Tuesday's 8pm Hour This Summer

Jumping 31% from its Adult 18-49 Lead-in Opposite Established NBC and CBS Unscripted Competition Tuesday at 9pm, the Debut of "Shaq VS" Pulls in ABC's Top Summer Numbers in the Hour with Regular Programming in More Than 1 Year

ABC Improves Year to Year on Wednesday for the 11th Straight Week

Growing Week to Week, "Millionaire" is the Most-Watched TV Show During Wednesday's 8 O'clock Hour for the 2nd Week in a Row

Shifting to 9pm Against NBC's "Talent," a Repeat "Wipeout" Builds on its Lead-in by 29% and Beats Out Fox's High-Profile "Octomom" Special

ABC News' "Primetime: Crime" Gains Year to Year in Wednesday's 10pm Hour

Growing its Sunday Audience for the 3rd Week in a Row, ABC Marks its Most-Watched Non-Sports Summer Sunday in 3 Years

Drawing its Biggest Summer Audience Since August 2006, ABC's Repeat "Funniest Home Videos" Wins Sunday's 7pm Hour by 42% in Adults 18-49

On Sunday, "Millionaire" Finishes its 11-Night Run with its Biggest Audience

For the 2nd Week Running, "Shark Tank" is the Most-Watched Show in its Hour

WEEK No. 48:

During the week of August 17, 2009, ABC attracted its biggest audience in 10 weeks, representing its most-watched non-sports Summer week since the beginning of July 2008 � since w/o 6/8/09 and w/o 7/7/08, respectively. In addition, the Net was up over the same week last year by nearly 1 million viewers (4.5 million vs. 3.6 million � w/o 8/18/08), registering its 2nd consecutive week of year-to-year growth.

Monday

ABC's Monday lineup improved on the same night last year (8/18/08) by 2.2 million viewers (5.0 million vs. 2.8 million) and by 75% in Adults 18-49 (1.4/4 vs. 0.8/2).

"Millionaire-8/17" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)

ABC's "Millionaire" stood as the No. 1 program in Monday's 8 o'clock hour in Total Viewers (7.1million) for the 2nd week in a row, beating second-place Fox (4.6 million) by 2.5 million viewers.

"Dating in the Dark" (9:01-10:00 p.m.)

Growing from the previous week's performance for the second week in a row, ABC's "Dating in the Dark" turned in its strongest numbers in Total Viewers (4.6 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.8/5) since "The Bachelorette" ended its run. In addition, "Dating in the Dark" built on both its lead-in (+29% - 1.8/5 vs. 1.4/5) and on the half-hour (+12% - 1.7/5 to 1.9/5) among Adults 18-49.

Tuesday

During the 8 o'clock hour, ABC's "Millionaire" was up over the prior Tuesday in Total Viewers (6.2 million vs. 6.1 million), generating ABC's biggest audience in the hour this summer.

"Shaq VS" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)

The series debut of ABC's "Shaq VS" jumped from its lead-in by 31% in Adults 18-49 (1.7/5 vs. 1.3/4) and gained young audience throughout its telecast (+13% build on the half-hour) opposite established unscripted time-period competition on both NBC ("America's Got Talent") and CBS ("Big Brother") in the 9:00 p.m. hour. In fact despite a decided lead-in advantage for Fox coming into 9 o'clock from "Hell's Kitchen," "Shaq VS" outdrew Fox's freshman unscripted "More To Love" by 11% in Total Viewers (4.2 vs. 3.8 million). On the show's premiere episode, Shaquille O'Neal challenged Super Bowl-winning Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers to a quarterbacking challenge.

� In Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, "Shaq VS" produced ABC's strongest summer numbers in the hour with regular programming in more than 1 year � since 8/5/08.

"Primetime: The Outsiders" (10:01-11:00 p.m.)

ABC News' "Primetime: The Outsiders" earned second place in the 10 o'clock hour to NBC's "America's Got Talent" among Adults 18-49 (1.3/4) and Adults 25-54 (1.5/4).

Wednesday

For the 11th week in a row, ABC grew its Wednesday audience year to year, up by 2.0 million viewers (5.7 million vs. 3.7 million) and by 23% in Adults 18-49 (1.6/5 vs. 1.3/4) from the year-ago night (8/20/08).

"Millionaire � 8/19" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)

Growing week to week by 6% in Viewers (6.9 million vs. 6.5 million) and by 8% in Adults 18-49 (1.4/5 vs. 1.3/5), ABC's "Millionaire" stood as the most-watched TV show in Wednesday's 8 o'clock hour for the 2nd week in a row.

� Wednesday's "Millionaire" improved ABC's numbers in the hour over the same night last year by 3.5 million viewers (6.9 million vs. 3.4 million) and by 8% in Adults 18-49 (1.4/5 vs. 1.3/4).

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

Once again shifting into the 9 o'clock hour this week, ABC's repeat "Wipeout" built on its Adult 18-49 lead-in by 29% against stiff competition from NBC's "America's Got Talent." In fact the "Wipeout" replay topped the second hour of Fox's original high-profile 2-hour "Octomom" special by 16% in Total Viewers (5.1 million vs. 4.4 million) and by 6% in Adults 18-49 (1.8/5 vs. 1.7/5).

"Primetime: Crime" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)

During the 10 o'clock hour, ABC News' "Primetime: Crime" was up over its performance in the time period on the same night last year by nearly 1 million viewers (5.0 million vs. 4.1 million) and by 7% in Adults 18-49 (1.5/5 vs. 1.4/4).

Thursday

"Millionaire-8/13" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)

Despite facing major-market local preemptions (Philadelphia and Pittsburgh) for NFL pre-season games resulting in reduced U.S. Coverage (95%), "Millionaire" was up over the previous night by 11% in Total Viewers (7.2 million vs. 6.5 million) and by 15% in Adults 18-49 (1.5/5 vs. 1.3/5) to finish second in the hour. In fact "Millionaire" turned in its second-strongest numbers yet in viewers and young adults, while hitting an event-high Adults 25-54 rating (1.9/6-tie).

� "Millionaire" attracted ABC's largest summer audience in the hour in well over 1 year - since 5/22/08.

Sunday

Growing its Sunday night audience for the 3rd week in a row, ABC tallied its most-watched non-sports Summer Sunday (5.6 million) in 3 years � since 8/27/06.

"America's Funniest Home Videos" (7:00-8:00 p.m.)

ABC's repeat "America's Funniest Home Videos" won the 7 o'clock hour in Adults 18-49, beating second-place CBS' original "60 Minutes" by 42% (1.7/6 vs. 1.2/4). In fact it was the 4th time in the past 5 weeks that the replay "AFV" finished No. 1 in its time period in the key young sales demo.

� "AFV" pulled in its largest summer audience (6.8 million) since August 2006 � since 8/20/06. The show also posted a summer-high in Adults 18-49, matching its best summer number in 2 years � since 8/26/07.

"Millionaire - 8/23" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)

On the finale of its 11-night run, ABC's "Millionaire" finished as the most-watched (7.6 million) TV show during the 8 o'clock hour, outdrawing CBS' time-period veteran, "Big Brother" (7.5 million). In fact the Sunday closer of "Millionaire" attracted the show's biggest audience during its 10th anniversary event.

� In addition to hitting its best Total Viewer number, "Millionaire" also posted event-high ratings with Adults 25-54 (tie) and across all key Men demos (M18-34/M18-49/M25-54).

� On average through its 11-night run, the 10th-anniversary "Millionaire" event improved ABC's performance in the time periods by 3.4 million viewers (6.9 million vs. 3.5 million) and by 27% in Adults 18-49 (1.4/5 vs. 1.1/3) over the same nights last year.

"Shark Tank" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)

For the 2nd week running, ABC's "Shark Tank" registered as the most-watched television show at 9 o'clock. In fact against its freshman unscripted competition in the hour, ABC's "Shark Tank" overshadowed CBS' "There Goes the Neighborhood" by 2.0 million viewers (5.5 million vs. 3.5 million) by 64% in Adults 18-49 (1.8/5 vs. 1.1/3). Among Adults 18-49, the new unscripted series built on its lead-in (+20%) and gained audience from its first half-hour to its second half-hour (+6%).

� "Shark Tank" retained 100% of its week-earlier Adult 18-49 number and achieved series-highs with Adults 18-34, Men 18-34, Men 25-54 and Women 25-54.

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 32% currently, from 26% 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 (National Live+Same Day Program Ratings), week of 8/17/09, unless stated otherwise.





  [august 2009]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
      


· 60 MINUTES (CBS)
· AMERICA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS (ABC)
· AMERICA'S GOT TALENT (NBC)
· BACHELORETTE, THE (ABC)
· BIG BROTHER (CBS)
· DATING IN THE DARK (ABC)
· HELL'S KITCHEN (FOX)
· MORE TO LOVE (FOX)
· SHAQ VS (ABC)
· SHARK TANK (ABC)
· THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD (CBS)
· WHAT WOULD YOU DO? (ABC)
· WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE (ABC)
· WIPEOUT (TBS)





most recent ratings | view all posts
[10/17/25 - 01:16 PM]
"Live with Kelly and Mark" Hits Season Highs with Best Audience Performance Since July
"Live" has now ranked as the No. 1 talk show in syndication for 139 consecutive weeks across all key measures.

[10/17/25 - 10:38 AM]
"Dancing with the Stars" Continues Historic Hot Streak - Rising for Fourth Straight Week Since Premiere with 6 Million Total Viewers
Plus: "High Potential" dominated the 10 p.m. hour with 4.15 million Total Viewers and a 0.33 rating among Adults 18-49.

[10/16/25 - 06:01 AM]
ESPN's Monumental 2025 WNBA Season Sets New Viewership Records
Across all networks, the 2025 WNBA Postseason was the most-viewed since 1999.

[10/15/25 - 04:02 PM]
"20/20" Is Friday's No. 1 Program on Broadcast TV
"20/20" increased its lead week to week over "Dateline" in Total Viewers to post its largest of the season.

[10/15/25 - 04:01 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49, Leading NBC in All Key Demos for the 3rd Straight Week
"Nightline" saw double-digit gains in the year-ago week in Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49.

[10/14/25 - 03:06 PM]
ESPN Records the Most-Watched WNBA Postseason Ever Across Its Networks
Across 24 games, the '25 WNBA postseason averaged 1.2 million viewers, up 5% from last year.

[10/14/25 - 03:03 PM]
"College GameDay Built by The Home Depot" Delivers Most-Watched West Coast Episode Ever; ESPN College Football on ABC Scores Top Three Programs Across All Networks and Content for Saturday, Oct. 11
The Texas Longhorns' upset victory over the Oklahoma Sooners averaged 8.7 million viewers.

[10/14/25 - 02:50 PM]
ALCS Game 1 on FOX and FOX Deportes Draws 5.3 Million Viewers
The Mariners victory over the Blue Jays averaged 5,310,000 viewers across FOX, FOX Deportes and FOX Sports streaming services.

[10/14/25 - 02:39 PM]
FOX Sports Delivers Most-Watched LDS on FOX/FS1 Since Launch of Postseason Baseball on FS1 in 2014
On Friday, 8,723,000 viewers tuned in for the Mariners' historic 15-inning ALDS Game 5 victory.

[10/14/25 - 02:15 PM]
"Sunday Night Football" Registers Record Fourth Blockbuster Audience of 25+ Million Viewers This Season, As Lions-Chiefs Averages 27.3 Million Viewers on NBC & Peacock
Lions-Chiefs averaged 27.3 million viewers across NBC and Peacock, based on official Nielsen Big Data + Panel and digital data from Adobe Analytics, marking the second-most watched October audience in the history of NBC "SNF."

[10/14/25 - 01:45 PM]
ABC Wednesday Comedies Return Strong for New Seasons
"Shifting Gears" earned the biggest audience since the show's Valentine's Day episode; while "Abbott Elementary" jumped over the show's season four premiere among Total Viewers as well as the season four average.

[10/14/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of October 6: "The Woman in Cabin 10" Rocks the Boat as No. 1 Debut in This Week's Top 10
In the spirit of the season of chills, "Monster: The Ed Gein Story" claimed the No. 1 spot on the English TV list, rising to the top in its second week with 20.7 million views.

[10/10/25 - 03:07 PM]
3,287,000 Viewers Tuned in on Average Through Game 4 of the ALDS Across FOX, FS1 and FS2
Through Game 4, coverage of the ALDS across FOX, FS1 and FS2 is up +11% from 2024 and +31% over 2023.

[10/10/25 - 09:04 AM]
"Dancing with the Stars" Scores Historic Growth in Week Four
"Dancing with the Stars" rose for the third straight week following its season premiere, for the first time in the show's history, in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49.

[10/09/25 - 05:01 PM]
3,177,000 Viewers Tuned in on Average Through Game 3 of the ALDS Across FOX, FS1 and FS2
Through Game 3, coverage of the ALDS across FOX, FS1 and FS2 is up +14% from 2024 and +28% over 2023.