ABC's "Final Witness" Scores Series Highs at 10pm

Early info on ABC's Wednesday, ahead of the regular press release.

ABC's Final Witness ranked #1 in the 10 o'clock hour among Adults 25-54 and stood as the highest-rated program in Adults 18-49 on the major networks.

· The new ABC series delivered double digit-growth week to week in Adults 25-54 (+14%) and grew for the 2nd straight regular telecast among Adults 18-49 (+9%) to hit series-highs on both Nielsen measures.

· Final Witness greatly improved over original series programming in the time slot on the year-ago night (Primetime Nightline: Beyond Belief on 7/20/11) by 31% in Total Viewers, 33% in Adults 25-54 and 33% in Adults 18-49. In fact, the show matched ABC's strongest performance in the hour so far this summer with both Adult demos.

Quick Take for Wednesday, July 18, 2012 (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings)

ABC Achieves its Strongest Performance on Wednesday Night This Summer

ABC's Repeat "Suburgatory" Holds Double-Digit Advantages Over NBC's Comedy

Two "Modern Family" Replays Stand as Wednesday's Top Programs in Adults 18-49

Posting Solid Time-Period Gains, ABC's "Final Witness" Scores Series Highs at 10pm

Wednesday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)

With a 2-hour repeat comedy block leading into a strong performance for "Final Witness" at 10:00 p.m., ABC (1.2/4) ran in a near-tie for second place with CBS (and the Wednesday premiere of "Big Brother" - 1.4/4) and NBC (with "America's Got Talent" - 1.3/4) among Adults 18-49, as all 3 networks tied in audience share.

· Growing by 9% week to week among young adults, ABC equaled its best performance on Wednesday night this summer.

"Suburgatory" (8:30-9:00 p.m.)

At 8:30 p.m., ABC's rebroadcast "Suburgatory" topped NBC's competing repeat comedy ("Up All Night") by double-digit margins in Total Viewers (+10% - 3.2 million vs. 2.9 million) and Adults 18-49 (+13% - 0.9/3 vs. 0.8/3).

"Modern Family"/"Modern Family" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)

From 9:00-10:00 p.m., two encore telecasts of ABC's "Modern Family" qualified as Wednesday's Top 2 scripted programs with Adults 18-49. In addition, the ABC sitcom topped its head-to-head repeat competition on CBS ("Criminal Minds") by 50% among young adults (1.5/4 vs. 1.0/3).

"Final Witness" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)

ABC's "Final Witness" ranked No. 1 in the 10 o'clock hour among Adults 25-54 (1.6/4-tie) and stood as the highest-rated program in Adults 18-49 (1.2/4) on the major networks.

· The new ABC series delivered double digit-growth week to week in Adults 25-54 (+14%) and grew for the 2nd straight regular telecast among Adults 18-49 (+9%) to hit series-highs on both Nielsen measures.

· "Final Witness" greatly improved over original series programming in the time slot on the year-ago night ("Primetime Nightline: Beyond Belief" on 7/20/11), by 31% in Total Viewers (4.2 million vs. 3.2 million), 33% in Adults 25-54 (1.6/4 vs. 1.2/3) and 33% in Adults 18-49 (1.2/4 vs. 0.9/3). In fact, the show matched ABC's strongest performance in the hour so far this summer with both Adult demos.

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 44% currently, from 41% at the same point in 2011. 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: The Nielsen Company (Fast Affiliate, Live + Same Day Ratings), 07/18/12.