ABC Wins Thursday in Adults 18-49/"Expedition Impossible" Opens as the #1 TV Show

Some early info on ABC's Thursday summer premieres, ahead of the regular press release.

With the premiere of its Thursday summer line-up (Wipeout/Expedition Impossible/Rookie Blue), ABC finished #1 on the night in Adults 18-49, dominating Fox by 40%, CBS by 50% and NBC by 163%. In a rare feat for a new series, ABC's Expedition Impossible debuted as the night's #1 TV show, tying ABC's Wipeout.

· Growing 11% over the same night last year (also a night of premieres on 6/24/10) in Adults 18-49, the Net marked its top summer Thursday with non-sports programming in more than 3 years - since 5/29/08 with the season finale of Lost.

At 8pm, ABC's summer premiere of Wipeout catapulted over its 2-night-ago Tuesday sneak peek in viewers (+42%) and young adults (+35%). The broad-appealing ABC unscripted won its time period by wide margins, beating Fox's original So You Think You Can Dance by 1.2 million viewers and by 21% in Adults 18-49.

· In viewers and young adults, ABC's Wipeout posted the show's highest numbers in nearly 5 months - since 2/3/11.

Opening as Thursday's #1 TV show in Adults 18-49, ABC's debut of Expedition Impossible retained 100% of its Wipeout lead-in to tower over its competitors in the 9 o'clock hour. Making it a clean sweep in the time slot, the new ABC unscripted series premiered at #1 across all key Adult demos (AD18-34/AD18-49/Ad25-54) and was the top-rated broadcast program with Teens 12-17 and Kids 2-11.

· Surging over the year-ago night by 21% in Adults 18-49, Expedition Impossible scored ABC's highest summer rating in the time period May 2008 - since 5/29/08 with the season closer of Lost.

At 10pm, ABC's sophomore season premiere of Rookie Blue ranked #1 in its time slot in Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54. The ABC summer drama beat NBC's original summer drama (Love Bites) in the hour by 3.9 million viewers, by 100% in Adults 18-49 and by 133% in Adults 25-54.

· Despite moving into a later time period (shifting from 9pm to 10pm) with lower overall TV usage, Rookie Blue drew the series largest audience since mid-August last year in viewers and since early-August in young adults - since 8/19/10 and 8/5/10, respectively. In addition, Rookie Blue hit a series-high with Women 18-34.

· Rookie Blue produced strong year-over-year gains for ABC in the hour with viewers (+16%) and young adults (+23%), topping original programming on the year-ago night. In fact, Rookie Blue posted ABC's best summer numbers in the hour since August 2008 - since 8/7/08.