ABC Claims TV's Top 2 Biggest Gainers in Early TV Playback, with "S.H.I.E.L.D." and "Modern Family"

Based on Nielsen's just released TV playback data for the first 3 days of premiere week (Monday-Wednesday), ABC claimed the 2 biggest gainers among Adults 18-49, with Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. gaining +1.8 rating points in its first 3 days of playback and Modern Family picking up another +1.6 rating points. The ABC drama soared to a 6.5 rating in Adults 18-49, solidifying its rank as the #1 freshman series of the new season and TV's top-rated drama debut in nearly 4 years - since 11/3/09.

· The season opener of ABC's Nashville on Wednesday shot up 45% with Adults 18-49 in the Live + 3 Day ratings, growing to a 2.9 and leapfrogging over CBS' CSI (2.8) by 4% in the 10pm hour. Nashville scored bigger playback gains this year than did last year's debut among young adults (45% vs. 39%). The sophomore ABC drama also gained 2.3 million viewers over its initially reported Live + Same Day tally to pull in 8.8 million Total Viewers after 3 days of TV playback.

· The series debut of ABC's The Goldbergs on Tuesday at 8pm jumped from a 3.1 rating among Adults 18-49 in the L+SD statistics to a 3.9 rating in the L+3 numbers, gaining 8-tenths of a rating point in its first 3 days of TV playback.

· On Monday at 10pm, the season opener of ABC's Castle gained nearly a full Adult 18-49 rating point in the L+3 numbers, going from a 2.3 rating to a 3.2 rating (+0.9 rating points). In fact, Castle's growth from L+SD to L+3 was higher this year than last year in the young adult demo (+0.8 rating points).

· In the first 3 days of available TV playback, ABC had 3 of TV's Top 5 biggest overall gainers, with each show adding on at least 3 million viewers over their first-reported Live + Same Day totals: S.H.I.E.L.D. (+3.70 million), Castle (+3.48 million) and Modern Family (+3.40 million).