L+7 Ratings: ABC Claims 4 of the Week's Top 5 Biggest TV Gainers in AD18-49

Live + 7 Day ratings for the week of 4/20/15 (Week #31):

ABC claimed 4 of the week's Top 5 biggest TV playback gainers among Adults 18-49: Modern Family (+1.9 rating points) - #2, 20/20 (+1.7) - #3, Grey's Anatomy (+1.6) - #4 and Scandal (+1.5) - #5. ABC also had 4 of the Top 10 biggest overall gainers for the week: Modern Family (+4.4 million) - #3, Castle (+4.0 million) - #5, 20/20 (+3.9 million) - #7 and Scandal (+3.7 million) - #10.

ABC's 20/20: Bruce Jenner - The Interview grew to 21.0 million Total Viewers (up +3.9 million from 17.1 million in L+SD) and a 7.0 rating among Adults 18-49 (up +1.7 rating points from a 5.3 in L+SD) after 7 days of TV playback, becoming TV's highest-rated newsmagazine telecast in the young adult demo since Nielsen began reporting Live +7 Day playback numbers in December 2005.

The season finale of Fresh Off the Boat grew to a 2.2 rating among Adults 18-49 (up +0.7 rating points from a 1.5 in L+SD), up 10% week to week to a 6-week L+7 high - since 3/10/15. In the L+SD ratings, FOTB was steady with the prior week.

Grey's Anatomy scored a best-since-premiere number (since 9/25/14) among Adults 18-49 with a 4.4 L+7 rating, an increase of +1.6 rating points over its L+SD rating (2.8).

In the final Live + 7 Day ratings, Grey's moved out of a tie with CBS' comedies (The Big Bang Theory/The Odd Couple) to win Thursday's 8pm hour outright among Adults 18-49 with a 7% advantage (4.4 rating vs. 4.1 rating).

Growing to a 2.2 rating in L+7, ABC's Nashville ranked as the #1 program in Wednesday's 10 o'clock hour among Adults 18-49, leapfrogging over CBS' CSI: Cyber (2.1 rating). In the L+SD ratings, Nashville was 2-tenths of a rating point behind the CBS drama.

Season-to-Date TV Playback (9/22/14-4/26/15):

Based on L+7 ratings through 31 weeks of the 2014-15 season, ABC is #1 in Nielsen's non-sports Adult 18-49 averages (2.2 rating-tied with CBS), leading by double digits over NBC (+10% - 2.0) and Fox (+16% - 1.9). Growing to a 2.2 L+7 rating among Adults 18-49 in the non-sports numbers, ABC is even year to year (2.2 for 9/23/13-4/27/14), while CBS (-4%), Fox (-5%) and NBC (-13%) are each declining.

Based on TV playback data for the 2014-15 season, ABC claims 5 of the Top 10 biggest gainers among Adults 18-49 on the broadcast networks (the most for any network): Modern Family (+2.1 rating points) - #2, How To Get Away with Murder (+2.0) - #4, Scandal (+1.6) - #6, Grey's Anatomy (+1.5) - #8 and Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (+1.3) - #10.

Among Adults 18-49 in the L+7 ratings, ABC has the Top 2 dramas on Thursday with HTGAWM (5.0 rating) and Scandal (4.5), the #1 show on Friday with Shark Tank (2.6) and the #1 broadcast series on Sunday with Once Upon a Time (3.4).

Several of ABC's returning series are seeing bigger percentage gains among Adults 18-49 from L+SD to L+7 this year than last: The Bachelor (+25% vs. +24%), Castle (+63% vs. +60%), DWTS (+25% vs. +19%), Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (+81% vs. +64%), The Middle (+35% vs. +24%), Modern Family (+64% vs. +56%), Scandal (+55% vs. +53%) and Shark Tank (+44% vs. +37%).

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.