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[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]  
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· 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)





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