ABC Wins All 4 November Sweep Thursdays for the First Time in Over 23 Years

ABC Thursday Prime (8-11pm - 9.4 million and 2.9/9 in AD18-49): ABC won all 4 Thursdays of the November Sweep in Adults 18-49 for the first time in at least 23 years - since at least November 1991, which is the first sweep period in Nielsen's electronic database. Driven by strong turnouts for the winter finales for its Thursday drama lineup, ABC beat CBS by a season-best 38% (2.9/9 vs. 2.1/7). The Net spiked over the year-ago Thursday (7.0 million and 2.1/6 on 11/21/13). On average, ABC's Thursday November Sweep delivery was up by 20% in Total Viewers and by 22% for its best numbers in 4 years - since 2010.

· ABC was up for the 3rd-straight Thursday in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49.

·

· How to Get Away with Murder was up week to week in Total Viewers (+7% - 9.8 million vs. 9.2 million) and Adults 18-49 (+7% - 3.1/10 vs. 2.9/9), hitting a 6 week-high with young adults - since 10/9/14.

· ABC's Murder (3.1/10), Scandal (3.1/10) and Grey's (2.4/7) continued their run as Thursday's Top 3 dramas in Adults 18-49 (over CBS' Elementary, NBC's Parenthood and Fox's Bones and Gracepoint). In addition, Scandal and HTGAWM trailed only CBS' The Big Bang Theory as the top-rated series of the night and are once again tracking as the week's top broadcast dramas in Adults 18-49.

· From 10-11pm, ABC's How to Get Away with Murder (3.1/10) beat its combined drama competition for the 4th consecutive week in Adults 18-49 (+24%), topping NBC's Parenthood by 107% (1.5/4) and CBS' Elementary by 210% (1.0/3).

· Season to date, ABC's Thursday is up by double digits from the same point last year in Total Viewers (+28%) and Adults 18-49 (+21%) for its strongest delivery on the night in 5 years - since the comparable weeks of the 2009-10 season. ABC's HTGAWM and Scandal closed out the fall as the Top 2 broadcast dramas in the key young adult sales demo, respectively.

ABC's Thursday Tops with Social

· ABC's TGIT topped the social rankers last night on broadcast taking the #1 slot with Scandal with 442,569 tweets, #2 with HTGAWM 284,514 tweets and Grey's #3 with 92,004 tweets. Each series delivered its second highest social performance since their premieres in September.

· STD Scandal has delivered over 3.1m tweets (vs 2.6m for the same time frame last season), HTGAWM is close to 1.4m tweets and Grey's with 649k tweets (vs 582k tweets for the same time last year).

Top Broadcast Primetime Telecast Ranker
Rank Network(s) Program 11/20/2014 % Chg
1 ABC Scandal 442,569 44%
2 ABC How to Get Away w/ Murder 284,514 133%
3 ABC Grey's Anatomy 92,004 75%
4 CW Vampire Diaries 64,034 -23%
5 NBC Parenthood 9,105 96%
6 CBS McCarthy's 6,374 70%
7 FOX Bones 5,263 10%
8 CW Reign 5,032 -32%
9 CBS Big Bang Theory 4,914 16%
10 FOX Gracepoint 4,128 9%
11 NBC Biggest Loser 4,092 21%
12 CBS Elementary 2,215 -4%
13 NBC A to Z 1,038 -16%
14 CBS Two and Half Men 1,014 22%
15 NBC Bad Judge 913 -26%
16 CBS Mom 725 -7%

Quick Take for Thursday, November 20, 2014 (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings)

ABC Wins All 4 Thursdays of November for the First Time in at Least 23 Years

From 8-9pm, ABC's "Grey's" Dominates Fox's "Bones" in Viewers and Young Adults

"Scandal" Towers Over the 9pm Hour and is Up from the Year-Ago Night

"Murder" Hits a 6-Week High and Beats its Combined 10pm Drama Competition

Thursday Night (11/20/14) - ABC Total Viewer and Adult 18-49 Projections

"Grey's Anatomy:" Live + 3 = 12.9 million/3.5 rating and Live + 7 = 14.0 million/3.8 rating

"Scandal:" Live + 3 = 14.6 million/4.5 rating and Live + 7 = 15.3 million/4.7 rating

"HTGAWM:" Live + 3 = 14.3 million/4.5 rating and Live + 7 = 15.0 million/4.7 rating

Live + Same Day Fast Affiliate Results:

ABC Thursday Prime (8:00-11:00 p.m. - 9.4 million and 2.9/9 in AD18-49):

ABC won all 4 Thursdays of the November Sweep in Adults 18-49 for the first time in at least 23 years - since at least November 1991, which is the first sweep period in Nielsen's electronic database.

Driven by strong turnouts for the Winter finales for its Thursday drama lineup, ABC beat CBS by a season-best 38% (2.9/9 vs. 2.1/7). The Net spiked over the year-ago Thursday (7.0 million and 2.1/6 on 11/21/13). On average, ABC's Thursday November Sweep delivery was up by 20% in Total Viewers and by 22% in Adults 18-49 for its best numbers in 4 years - since 2010.

· ABC was up for the 3rd-straight Thursday in Total Viewers (+2%) and Adults 18-49 (+4%).

· ABC's "How to Get Away with Murder" (3.1/10), "Scandal" (3.1/9) and "Grey's" (2.4/7) continued their run as Thursday's Top 3 dramas in Adults 18-49. In addition, "Scandal" and "HTGAWM" trailed only CBS' "The Big Bang Theory" as the highest-rated series of the night and are tracking as the week's top broadcast dramas in Adults 18-49.

· Season to date, ABC's Thursday is up by double digits from the same point last year in Total Viewers (+28%) and Adults 18-49 (+21%) for its strongest delivery on the night in 5 years - since the comparable weeks of the 2009-10 season. ABC's "HTGAWM" and "Scandal" closed out the Fall season as the Top 2 broadcast dramas in the key young adult sales demo, respectively.

"Grey's Anatomy" (8:00-9:00 p.m. - 8.3 million and 2.4/7 in AD18-49):

At 8:00 p.m., opposite "Big Bang," ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" dominated its drama competition in the slot (Fox's "Bones") by 3.1 million viewers (8.3 million vs. 5.2 million) and by 85% in Adults 18-49 (2.4/7 vs. 1.3/4). "Grey's" held steady week to week and greatly improved its hour year to year for ABC ("Wonderland" on 11/21/13 = 3.5 million and 0.9/3 in AD18-49).

"Scandal" (9:00-10:00 p.m. - 10.0 million and 3.1/9 in AD18-49):

At 9:00 p.m., ABC's "Scandal" shot to the top of its hour in Adults 18-49 (3.1/9), surpassing CBS' comedies by 72% ("Two and a Half Men"/"The McCarthys" = 1.8/5), while more than tripling both NBC's comedies ("Bad Judge"/"A to Z" = 1.0/3) and Fox's "Gracepoint" (0.8/2). It also won its slot in Total Viewers for the 4th week running (10.0 million).

· The ABC drama built on its own year-ago telecast at 10:00 p.m. (8.9 million and 2.9/8 on 11/21/13) in viewers (+12%) and young adults (+7%).

"How to Get Away with Murder" (10:00-11:00 p.m. - 9.8 million and 3.1/10 in AD18-49):

From 10:00-11:00 p.m., ABC's "How to Get Away with Murder" (3.1/10) beat its combined drama competition for the 4th consecutive week in Adults 18-49 (+24%), leading NBC's "Parenthood" by 107% (1.5/4) and CBS' "Elementary" by 210% (1.0/3). The freshman drama was the most-watched TV show overall in the slot for the 4th week in a row (9.8 million).

· "How to Get Away with Murder" was up week to week in Total Viewers (+7% - 9.8 million vs. 9.2 million) and Adults 18-49 (+7% - 3.1/10 vs. 2.9/9), hitting a 6-week high with young adults - since 10/9/14.

· "HTGAWM" was also up from the year-ago telecast of "Scandal" in the hour by 10% in Total Viewers and by 7% in Adults 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 49% currently, from 48% at the same point in 2013. 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.

Projections Rationale: 1

Lifts vs. L+SD are based on the 2013-14 season for premiere telecast or an average for originals (excluding the premiere).

Returning shows: Profile based on same show (either premiere or averages for originals).

New Series: Based on similar series.

Source: The Nielsen Company, National Live + Same Day Program Ratings, 11/20/14.