Live + 7 Ratings: ABC Claims the Week's Top 6 Biggest Broadcast Gainers in Adults 18-49

Live + 7 Day ratings for the week of 12/1/14 (Week #11):

ABC claimed the Top 6 biggest broadcast gainers in TV playback among Adults 18-49: Modern Family (+2.2 rating points) - #1, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (+1.3) - #2, Castle (+1.2) and Once Upon a Time (+1.2) tied for #3 and Forever (+1.1) and black-ish (+1.1) tied for #5. Among Adults 18-49, ABC had the #1 biggest gainer on Monday (Castle), Wednesday (Modern Family) and Sunday (Once Upon a Time) and the Top 2 broadcast gainers on Tuesday (S.H.I.E.L.D. and Forever).

ABC had 4 of the 6 biggest overall gainers among the broadcast networks, including the Top 2: Modern Family (+4.794 million) - #1, Castle (+4.444 million) - #2, Forever (+3.501 million) - #4 and S.H.I.E.L.D. (+3.277 million) - #6.

With a +1.1 ratings point gain, ABC's Forever scored its largest-ever playback lift among Adults 18-49. In addition, Castle (+80% - tie), The Middle (+44%) and Modern Family (+79%) all delivered series highs in TV playback, while The Goldbergs (+53%), Once Upon a Time (+60%) and Shark Tank (+39% - tie) all posted their biggest lifts of the season in the young adult demo.

In the final Live + 7 Day ratings, ABC aired 4 of the week's Top 10 non-sports broadcast programs among Adults 18-49, including the #1 show: Modern Family (5.0 rating) - #1, Once Upon a Time (3.2) and black-ish (3.2) tied for #4 and S.H.I.E.L.D (3.1) - #7.

· Growing to a 3.1 rating in L+7, ABC's Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. moved into a tie with NBC's The Voice to rank as Tuesday's #1 broadcast program among Adults 18-49. In the L+SD ratings, S.H.I.E.L.D. trailed the NBC unscripted show by 8-tenths of a rating point among young adults.

· In Monday's 10pm hour, ABC's Castle moved ahead NBC's State of Affairs in the L+7 Adult 18-49 ratings to lead by 13% (2.7 rating vs. 2.4 rating) and rank as the #1 series in the slot. In the L+SD numbers, Castle was 1-tenth of a rating point behind the new NBC drama.

Season-to-Date TV Playback (9/22/14-12/7/14):

Based on L+7 ratings through 11 weeks of the 2014-15 season, ABC is #1 in Nielsen's non-sports Adult 18-49 averages (2.7 rating), leading CBS (+13% - 2.4), NBC (+13% - 2.4) and Fox (+35% - 2.0) by double-digit margins. ABC grows by +0.8 rating points over its Live + Same Day Adult 18-49 rating (1.9 rating in L+SD to a 2.7 in L+7) in the non-sports averages, making the Net the #1 biggest actual gainer in TV playback this season. Growing to a 2.7 L+7 rating among Adults 18-49 in the non-sports numbers, ABC is even year to year (2.7 for 9/23/13-12/8/13), while CBS (-11%), NBC (-11%) and Fox (-13%) are each declining.

Based on TV playback data for the 2014-15 season, ABC's How to Get Away with Murder (+2.2 rating points) and Modern Family (+2.2) share the #2 spot among broadcast gainers in Adults 18-49.

ABC's HTGAWM is the season's biggest gainer for any freshman series among Adults 18-49 (+2.2 rating points), topping the L+7 gain of runner-up Fox's Gotham (+1.8). In fact, the L+7 lift for HTGAWM is outdelivering the lift of last season's top freshman gainer through the same point last season, NBC's The Blacklist (+2.1).

HTGAWM is the season's #1 broadcast drama and #1 new TV show in the young adult demo (5.2 rating).

Among Adults 18-49 in the L+7 ratings, ABC has the #1 show on Wednesday with Modern Family (5.6 rating), the Top 3 dramas on Thursday with HTGAWM (5.2), Scandal (4.8) and Grey's Anatomy (4.0) and the #1 show on Friday with Shark Tank (2.6).

Several ABC's returning series are seeing bigger percentage gains among Adults 18-49 from L+SD to L+7 this year than last: Castle (+65% vs. +57%), Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (+76% vs. +62%), The Middle (+30% vs. +27%), Modern Family (+65% vs. +53%), Revenge (+83% vs. +59%) and Shark Tank (37% vs. 32%).

Source: The Nielsen Company, as dated. Based on regular, original telecasts only. Season-to-Date DVR playback ranker includes programs with 2 or more telecasts.