Primetime Ratings Report
For the week of November 23, 2009
(Based on National Live + Same Day Program Ratings)
On Thanksgiving Week, ABC Finishes as the 2nd-Most-Watched Network to CBS, While Ranking No. 1 Among Women 18-49
ABC Airs 3 of the Top 10 Non-Sports Shows for the Week in Adults 18-49 and Claims 2 of the Top 3 Most-Watched Shows Overall, Including No. 1 "DWTS"
Hitting Season Highs and Winning its Slot in Viewers and Young Adults, "DWTS" Stands as Monday's Most-Watched TV Series Telecast for the 10th Straight Week
ABC's Monday Debut of "Find My Family" Beats Time-Period Regulars on
NBC and Fox, and Improves its Slot for ABC Year to Year by 2.1 Million Viewers
Continuing to Overshadow NBC's "Leno" in the 10pm Hour, ABC's "Castle"
Hits a Season High with its Strongest Adult 18-49 Rating in Nearly 7 Months
Marking Season Highs on the Night with Viewers and Young Adults, ABC
Is No. 1 on the Final Tuesday of the '09 November Sweep in Adults 18-49
Landing as the 2nd-Most-Watched TV Show in its Hour to CBS' "NCIS," ABC Freshman "V" Tops Time-Slot Regulars NBC's "Loser" and Fox's "Dance"
Hitting Season-Highs on Tuesday, ABC's "DWTS" Finale Soars to the Top of its
Time Slot, Beating No. 2 CBS by 4.4 Million Viewers and by 23% in Adults 18-49
ABC's Thanksgiving Night Results Surge Year to Year in Viewers and Adults 18-49
Friday Night's No. 1 TV Show, ABC News' "20/20" Dominates the 10pm Hour in Viewers and Key Adults, Ranking No. 1 in Adults 18-49 for the 5th Straight Week
ABC Wins with Saturday Night Football in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49
"America's Funniest Home Videos" Sees its Numbers Surge Week to Week
Making ABC the No. 1 Non-Sports Net in its Hour in Viewers and Young Adults, "Housewives" is Sunday's Most-Watched Entertainment Series for 9 Straight Airings
"Brothers & Sisters" Beats its Non-Sports Competition in Sunday's 10pm Hour,
Leading the Final Half of CBS' Christmas Movie by 32% in Adults 18-49
WEEK No. 10:
During the week of November 23, 2009, a week spanning the final nights of the November Sweep and the extended Thanksgiving holiday weekend, ABC ranked as the 2nd-most-watched network (9.1 million) to CBS and finished No. 1 with Women 18-49 (3.0/8).
Rankings: ABC delivered 3 of the week's Top 10 non-sports TV programs in Adults 18-49: "Desperate Housewives" � No. 4, "DWTS Results" � No. 7 and "Dancing with the Stars" � No. 10. The Network claimed 2 of the Top 3 most-watched primetime television programs overall, including the No. 1 show: "Dancing with the Stars" � No. 1 and "DWTS Results" � No. 3. With "DWTS," "Desperate Housewives" and "DWTS Results," the Net aired each of the Top 3 TV shows for the week with Women 18-49.
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 33% currently, from 28% 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.
Monday
For the 6th time in the past 7 weeks, ABC finished as the Monday's most-watched network (15.8 million), outdrawing CBS by 3.9 million viewers (11.9 million), Fox by 6.2 million viewers (9.6 million) and NBC by 10.8 million viewers (5.0 million).
"Dancing with the Stars" (8:00-9:30 p.m.)
Winning its 90-minute time period in Total Viewers (20.4 million) and Adults 18-49 (4.0/10), ABC's Monday season finale of "Dancing with the Stars" registered as the evening's most-watched series telecast for the 10th straight week this season.
� "Dancing" produced its most-watched telecast this season and marked a best-since-premiere Adult 18-49 number.
"Find My Family" (9:30-10:00 p.m.)
ABC's series debut of "Find My Family" took a strong second in its half-hour with Total Viewers (12.8 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.9/7), behind only CBS' veteran "Big Bang Theory" and beating time-slot regulars NBC's "Trauma" (5.7 million and 1.6/4) and Fox's "Lie to Me" (6.9 million and 2.5/6).
� "Find My Family" boosted the half-hour for ABC over the same night last year by 2.1 million viewers (10.7 million on 11/24/08 with an original "Samantha Who?")
"Castle" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
Achieving a season-high with young adults, ABC's "Castle" bested NBC's "Jay Leno" in the 10 o'clock hour by 5.8 million viewers (10.3 million vs. 4.5 million) and by 93% in Adults 18-49 (2.7/7 vs. 1.4/4). In fact "Castle" earned its highest Adult 18-49 number in nearly 7 months and attracted its second-biggest audience in more than 8 months � since 5/4/09 and 3/16/09, respectively.
� One of TV's biggest gainers in the 10 o'clock hour this season, ABC's "Castle" is generating substantial increases over its first-reported numbers through DVR playback, picking up an average 1.8 million viewers and an additional 5-tenths of an Adult 18-49 rating point (+21%) from the initially reported Live + Same Day Numbers to the Live + 7 Day DVR finals.
� "Castle" greatly improved the hour year to year for ABC over an original "Boston Legal" on the year-ago November Sweep night by 2.1 million viewers and by 29% in Adults18-49 (8.2 million and 2.1/6 on 11/24/08).
Tuesday
Hitting Tuesday season highs in Total Viewers (15.9 million) and Adults 18-49 (3.9/11), ABC finished No. 1 on the final Tuesday of the November Sweep in the key young adult sales demographic.
"V" (8:00-9:01 p.m.)
ABC freshman "V" (9.3 million) finished as the second-most-watched TV show in the 8 o'clock hour to CBS' top performer, "NCIS," outdrawing time-period veteran NBC's "Biggest Loser" by 4% (8.9 million) and Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance" by 55% (6.0 million).
� Based on Nielsen's first round of data for the new series, ABC's "V" is showing enormous gains over its first-reported numbers through DVR playback, picking up an average +2.4 million viewers and an additional +1.0 Adult 18-49 rating point from the Live + Same Day number to the Live + 7 Day DVR finals.
"Dancing with the Stars the Results Show" (9:01-11:00 p.m.)
On its 9th season finale, ABC's "Dancing with the Stars the Results Show" pulled in an average audience of 19.3 million viewers and a 4.3 rating, 12 share with Adults 18-49. Singer, actor, TV presenter Donny Osmond was crowned Season 9 champion and awarded the coveted mirror ball trophy. Opposite stiff sweep competition during its 2-hour broadcast, including CBS' original dramas ("NCIS: LA"/"Good Wife"), as well as the second hours of NBC's "Biggest Loser" and Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance," the season closer of "Dancing" towered over its closest time period competition (CBS) by 4.4 million viewers and by 19% in Adults 18-49 (14.9 million and 3.6/10).
� "DWTS the Results" gained audience throughout its telecast, surging by 3.0 million viewers (17.6 million to 20.6 million) and by 21% in Adults 18-49 (3.9/11 to 4.7/14) from its first half-hour to its final half-hour.
� "Dancing with the Stars the Results" hit season highs on the night in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49.
Thursday
With its Thanksgiving lineup of "Charlie Brown Thanksgiving," "Beyonce: I Am Yours" and "Paul McCartney: Good Evening NYC," ABC was up over the year-ago night (11/27/08) by 20% in Total Viewers (5.4 million vs. 4.5 million) and by 23% in Adults 18-49 (1.6/5 vs. 1.3/4).
Friday
"20/20" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
ABC News' "20/20" earned a dominant first place in the 10 o'clock hour on Friday evening, leading its nearest competition (CBS) by 1.2 million viewers (6.3 million vs. 5.1 million) and by 55% in Adults 18-49 (1.7/5 vs. 1.1/3). In fact it was the 5th straight week for the ABC newsmagazine to finish No. 1 in the hour among Adults 18-49.
� "20/20" qualified as Friday night's No. 1 TV show in Total Viewers (6.3 million), Adults 18-49 (1.7/5) and Adults 25-54 (2.0/6).
Saturday
With coverage of "Saturday Night Football," featuring ND at Stanford/GA at GA Tech, ABC finished a solid No. 1 on the Saturday evening, outrunning its nearest competitors by 1.3 million viewers (6.9 million vs. 5.6 million � CBS) and by 13% in Adults 18-49 (1.8/6 vs. 1.6/5 - Fox). ABC placed No. 1 on the night for the 2nd week in a row among Adults 18-49.
Sunday
Facing stiff sports-driven competition on Sunday, including Fox's substantial NFL overrun (Vikings-Bears) into the 7 o'clock hour and another big NBC Sunday Night Football contest (Steelers-Ravens), ABC beat its non-sports driven competition on CBS by 19% in Adults 18-49 (3.1/8 vs. 2.6/6).
"America's Funniest Home Videos" (7:00-8:00 p.m.)
In the 7 o'clock hour against Fox's NFL overrun, ABC's "America's Funniest Home Videos" jumped week to week by 2.2 million viewers (8.2 million vs. 6.0 million) and by 17% in Adults 18-49 (2.1/6 vs. 1.8/5), drawing its 3rd-largest audience this season.
"Desperate Housewives" (9:00-10:01 p.m.)
ABC's "Desperate Housewives" made ABC the No. 1 non-sports net during the 9 o'clock hour in Total Viewers (12.8 million) and Adults 18-49 (4.4/10). In fact "Housewives" qualified as the night's most-watched entertainment series for its 9th straight telecast this season, while standing as Sunday's No. 1 series for 7 straight telecasts in Adults 18-49.
� "Housewives" is generating an even bigger increase this season than last over its first-reported numbers through DVR playback, picking up an average 1.7 million viewers and an additional 8-tenths of an Adult 18-49 rating point from the initially reported Live + Same Day Numbers to the Live + 7 Day DVR finals.
"Brothers & Sisters" (10:01-11:00 p.m.)
ABC's "Brothers & Sisters" took full control of its non-sports competition during the 10 o'clock hour among Adults 18-49, beating the final hour of CBS' movie ("A Dog Named Christmas") by 32% (2.9/8 vs. 2.2/6).
� Like its lead-in, "Brothers & Sisters" is seeing a sizeable uptick this season over its first-reported numbers through DVR playback (also bigger than last season), picking up an average 1.3 million viewers and an additional 6-tenths of an Adult 18-49 rating point from the initially reported Live + Same Day Numbers to the Live + 7 Day DVR finals.
Source: Nielsen Media Research (National Live+Same Day Program Ratings), week of 11/23/09, unless stated otherwise.
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