L+7 Ratings: ABC Claims Most of the Week's Top 10 Gainers for the 2nd Straight Week in AD18-49

Live + 7 Day ratings for the week of 9/28/15 (Week #2):

During week 2 of the new TV season, ABC emerged as the #1 network in Nielsen's non-sports Adult 18-49 averages (2.6 rating), beating Fox by 4% (2.5), NBC by 4% (2.5) and CBS by 18% (2.2). Gaining +0.9 rating points over its Live + Same Day Adult 18-49 rating (1.7 rating in L+SD to a 2.6 in L+7) in the non-sports averages, ABC was the week's biggest gainer in TV playback among young adults.

With 5 of the week's Top 10 biggest gainers in TV playback among Adults 18-49, ABC claimed the most for any network (for the 2nd week running), as each program added on at least +1.7 rating points to their L+SD ratings: Scandal and Modern Family (+1.9 rating points) tied for #5, Grey's Anatomy and How to Get Away with Murder (+1.8) tied for #7 and Quantico (+1.7) ranked #8. ABC's TGIT dramas stood as Thursday's Top 3 playback gainers, while Quantico was Sunday's largest broadcast gainer.

ABC also claimed 5 of the Top 10 broadcast gainers on a percentage basis with Adults 18-49: Quantico (+89%) - #3, Nashville (+82%) - #4, Grey's Anatomy and HTGAWM (+78%) tied for #7 and Castle (+75%) - #10.

All 3 of ABC's TGIT drama posted bigger lifts in their second weeks versus their week-earlier premieres in Adults 18-49, with Grey's Anatomy growing +1.8 rating points (versus a +1.6 rating points increase), HTGAWM gaining +1.8 rating points (versus +1.7) and Scandal picking up +1.9 rating points (versus +1.8). In fact, Scandal scored its biggest-ever L+7 increase with young adults.

Also posting larger playback gains in week 2 were Sunday dramas Once Upon a Time (+1.2 rating points vs. +1.1 rating points) and Quantico (+1.7 rating points vs. +1.5 rating points). With the bigger playback increases, Once Upon a Time grew over its week-earlier season premiere by 3% among Adults 18-49 (3.0 rating vs. 2.9 rating) to deliver its highest L+7 rating since March (since 3/8/15) and Quantico improved on its debut telecast by 6% (3.6 rating vs. 3.4 rating).

Three of ABC's comedies also delivered increased playback gains in Adults 18-49 on a percentage basis compared to their prior week premieres, with The Muppets growing +45% (versus a +38% lift), Fresh Off the Boat jumping +41% (versus +37%) and black-ish soaring +67% (versus +58%). In fact, black-ish delivered its best-ever L+7 increase with young adults.

Season-to-Date TV Playback (9/21/15-10/4/15):

Based on TV playback data for the first 2 weeks of the 2014-15 season, ABC claims 5 of the Top 10 biggest broadcast gainers among Adults 18-49: Modern Family (+2.1 rating points) - #2, Scandal (+1.9) - #5, How to Get Away with Murder (+1.7) - #7, Grey's Anatomy and Quantico (+1.6) tie for #8.

Among Adults 18-49 in the L+7 ratings, ABC has 3 of the Top 4 shows on Wednesday with Modern Family (5.2 rating), The Goldbergs (3.5) and black-ish (3.4), the Top 3 series on Thursday with Scandal (4.9), HTGAWM (4.2) and Grey's Anatomy (4.2), the #1 show on Friday with Shark Tank (2.4) and the Top 2 broadcast series on Sunday with Quantico (3.5) and Once Upon a Time (2.9).

Nearly all of ABC's returning series are seeing bigger percentage gains among Adults 18-49 from L+SD to L+7 this year than last: black-ish (+62% vs. +48%), Castle (+75% vs. +43%), DWTS (+24% vs. +16%), The Goldbergs (+46% vs. +39%), Grey's Anatomy (+62% vs. +54%), HTGAWM (+68% vs. +66%), Last Man Standing (+50% vs. +46%), The Middle (+36% vs. +35%), Modern Family (+68% vs. +59%), Nashville (+75% vs. +60%), Once Upon a Time (+61% vs. +36%), Scandal (+63% vs. +44%) and Shark Tank (+41% vs. +39%).

Source: The Nielsen Company, as dated. Based on regular, original telecasts only.