ABC Wins Friday as "Shark Tank" Closes Out with its Best-Ever Finale and Strongest Season Ever

With back-to-back Shark Tanks, including the season finale at 9pm, leading into 20/20, ABC won the final Friday of the season in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49. ABC's Shark Tank and 20/20 stood as the Top 2 shows of the night in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49. And out of the 4 newsmagazines airing on the evening, ABC's 20/20 ranked #1 in viewers and key adults (AD18-49/AD25-54), outdelivering NBC's 2-hour Dateline from 8-10pm, NBC's Rock Center at 10pm and CBS' 48 Hours at 10pm. Up 15% from the season finale Friday last year, ABC finished out as Friday's #1 TV network for the 2012-13 season in Adults 18-49, building 13% year to year to its highest delivery on the night in 4 years - since the 2008-09 season.

From 8-9pm, the first installment of Shark Tank ranked #1 with a 7-week high for ABC in the time period (since 3/22/13), beating out CBS' season finale of Undercover Boss by 20%.

Friday's #1 show, ABC's Shark Tank finale dominated the 9 o'clock hour in Adults 18-49, growing 6% week to week and topping its year-ago finale by 19% for its highest-ever season closer. Shark Tank was also up by 1.1 million viewers from last season's finale. The finale featured the first Shark Tank Extra, a clip of the pitch from Disney Channel's "Phineas and Ferb's" nefarious Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz. On average, Shark Tank marked its strongest season ever with a 17% year-to-year increase in Adults 18-49.

ABC's 20/20 won the 10 o'clock hour in Total Viewers, Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54, defeating CBS' 48 Hours and NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams. For the 2nd week in a row, the ABC newsmagazine surged by double digits over its delivery on the same night last May in Total Viewers (+27%), Adults 18-49 (+25%) and Adults 25-54 (+27%).