Primetime Ratings Report For the week of January 28, 2008 (Based on National Live + Same Day Program Ratings)
ABC Takes Second for the Week in Adults 18-49,
Beating Third-Place NBC by 10% and Fourth-Place CBS by 35%
Fourth Season Premiere of ABC's "Lost" is Among the Top 10
TV Shows for the Week in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49
ABC's "Dance War" Leads Monday at 8pm in Total Viewers and Women 25-54
Opposite Fox's "Idol" and "Moment of Truth," ABC Takes Second on Wednesday In Adults 18-49, Posting Year-to-Year Increases for the Third Straight Week
With its Best Numbers Yet Against "American Idol," ABC's "Wife Swap"
Grows Week to Week by 4% in Total Viewers and by 16% in Adults 18-49
Special Replay of the Third Season Finale of "Lost" is No. 2 at 9pm on Wednesday in Adults 18-49 and Moves Up to No. 1 at 10pm, Beating NBC's Original "Law & Order"
ABC Dominates the Opening Night of the February Sweep, Winning the
First Night of the Sweep for Just the Second Time in at Least 16 Years
ABC Posts its Top Results on the Night Since Season Premiere Thursday in September
"Lost: Past, Present & Future" Series Re-Cap Special Leads Thursday at 8pm
On its First Telecast in 8 Months and Moving to a New Night, ABC's "Lost" Returns
As the Dominant No. 1 TV Program On Thursday in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49
In its Fourth Season Opener, "Lost" Produces its Top Numbers in Nearly 15 Months
Series Debut of ABC's "Eli Stone" Wins Thursday's 10 O'clock Hour in Viewers and Young Adults, Generating the Net's Best Series Numbers in the Time Slot in 4 Months
ABC News' "20/20" Stands as Friday's No. 1 Program Among Key Women Demos
WEEK No. 19:
ABC took second for the week of January 28, 2008, among Adults 18-49 (2.3/6), beating third-place NBC (2.1/5) by 10% and fourth-place CBS (1.7/4) by 35%. ABC also finished second for the week among Adults 18-34 (1.8/5) and Adults 25-54 (2.7/6).
Rankings: ABC claimed 3 of the week's Top 10 TV programs in Adults 18-49, including the fourth season premiere of "Lost": "Lost" � No. 8, "Lost: Past, Present & Future" � No. 9 and "Eli Stone" � No. 10. In addition, "Lost" (No. 8) and "Lost: Past, Present & Future" (No. 9) stood among the Top 10 most-watched programs during the week.
A note about increasing DVR penetration and year to year rating comparisons: Year-to-year rating trends based on the Live + Same Day data stream may be somewhat distorted by the level of DVR penetration in the Nielsen sample, which has nearly doubled from 12% at the same point in 2006, up to 22% currently. More viewers are watching shows on their own timetables, which may not be reflected in the overnight next day numbers. Therefore, 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.
Monday
"Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
ABC's "Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann" led its hour in Total Viewers (9.5 million), while taking the top spot in its time period for the third week running among Women 25-54 (4.6/11)
Wednesday
ABC took second place on Wednesday night among Adults 18-49 (2.9/8) to Fox with "American Idol" and "Moment of Truth," besting third-place NBC by 12% (2.6/7) and fourth-place CBS by 53% (1.9/5).
� ABC was up from the year-ago Wednesday for the third straight week (each week against "Idol"), growing by 1.7 million viewers (7.6 million vs. 5.9 million) and by 38% in Adults 18-49 (2.9/8 vs. 2.1/5) from the same night last year (1/31/07), which featured an all-original schedule.
"Wife Swap" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
At 8:00p.m. "Wife Swap" held second place to "American Idol" among Women 18-49 (3.0/7).
� Posting its best numbers yet against "American Idol," "Wife Swap" was up from the prior week by 4% in Total Viewers (5.8 million vs. 5.6 million) and by 16% in Adults 18-49 (2.2/6 vs. 1.9/5).
"Lost" (9:00-11:00 p.m.)
Starting out against an "Idol"-boosted installment of Fox's "Moment of Truth," a special replay of the third season finale of "Lost" built on its lead-in to draw an average audience of 8.5 million viewers and a 3.3 rating, 8 share among Adults 18-49 from 9:00-11:00 p.m. The show was enhanced with on-screen facts and back story. The night prior to its fourth season opener (Thursday � 1/31/08 at 9:00 p.m. ET), the "Lost" encore took second to "Moment of Truth" at 9:00 p.m. in Adults 18-49 (3.2/8) and then moved up to No. 1 during the 10 o'clock hour, beating NBC's original "Law & Order" by 10% (3.4/9 vs. 3.1/8). In fact the repeat "Lost" also ranked No. 1 from 10:00-11:00 p.m. in other key young adult, men and women demos: AD18-34 (2.6/8), M18-49 (2.9/8), W18-49 (3.9/10) and W18-34 (3.2/9).
� Compared to the Net's performance in the 2-hour time period on the year-ago night with original programming ("According to Jim"/"In Case of Emergency"/"Primetime"), the repeat "Lost" improved ABC's delivery by 2.9 million viewers and by 65% in Adults 18-49 (5.6 million and 2.0/5 on 1/31/07).
Thursday
ABC took full command of the opening night of the 2008 February Sweep, beating its nearest competition on the evening (Fox) by 3.2 million viewers (13.5 million vs. 10.3 million) and by 66% in Adults 18-49 (5.3/14 vs. 3.2/8). In fact, ABC ranked No. 1 in 5 of 6 half-hours during the evening among Adults 18-49, delivering the Top 3 TV shows of the night in the key sales demo with "Lost," "Lost: Past, Present & Future" and "Eli Stone," respectively.
� ABC drew its biggest audience and top Adult 18-49 rating on the night since season premiere Thursday in September (9/27/07). Among Men 18-49 (4.7/13) and Men 25-54 (5.3/13), ABC registered its highest-rated non-sports Thursday in 5 years � since 2/6/03.
� After taking first on the year-ago night, it was just the second time in at least the 16 years that ABC has won the opening night of a February Sweep � going back to the start of Nielsen's electronic data base in September 1991.
"Lost: Past, Present & Future" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
ABC's special re-capping the series, "Lost: Past, Present & Future," ranked a definitive No. 1 from 8:00-9:00 p.m., topping second-place Fox's "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?" by 2.7 million viewers (13.2 million vs. 10.5 million) and by 61% in Adults 18-49 (5.0/13 vs. 3.1/8).
� The "Lost" special generated ABC's highest non-sports Men 18-34 rating (3.6/12) in the hour in 5 years, and driven by the strong men numbers, its top Adult 18-49 number since September '06 � since 2/6/03 and 9/28/06, respectively.
"Lost" (9:00-10:02 p.m.)
In its first original telecast in 8 months (since 5/23/07) on its new night, ABC's fourth season premiere of "Lost" jumped from its lead-in and gained audience from start to finish. Emerging as Thursday's No. 1 TV show in Total Viewers (16.1 million) and Adults 18-49 (6.7/17), "Lost" also dominated its new 9 o'clock time slot. In its time period, "Lost" outpaced its closest competitors by 4.4 million viewers (CBS' "C.S.I." = 11.7 million) and by 103% in Adults 18-49 (Fox's "Don't Forget the Lyrics" = 3.3/8). NBC's time period regular, "Celebrity Apprentice," was a distant fourth place in Total Viewers and tied for third in Adults 18-49 (6.9 million & 2.8/7).
� "Lost" marked the series' largest audience and top Adult 18-49 rating in nearly 15 months -- since its "fall finale" on 11/8/06. In addition, "Lost" improved on its 2006-07 Live + Same Day TV Season averages (all originals) by 2.3 million viewers and by 14% in Adults 18-49 (13.8 million & 5.9/15). It should also be noted when looking at the numbers for the show, "Lost" was among the most recorded and played back TV shows last season, gaining 1.3 million viewers and 12% in Adults 18-49 on average from its Live + Same Day to its Live + 7 Day numbers.
� "Lost" generated ABC's highest ratings in the time period across each of the men demographics (M18-34/M18-49/M25-54) in nearly 1 year � since 2/22/07.
"Eli Stone" (10:02-11:00 p.m.)
In the final hour of the night, ABC's debut of "Eli Stone" ranked No. 1 in Total Viewers (11.1 million) and Adults 18-49 (4.0/11).
� "Eli Stone" produced ABC's top viewer and young adult numbers in the time period with regular programming in 4 months � since 9/27/07. The new series attracted ABC's best numbers in time slot since early-May '07 among Men 18-49 (3.4/10) and Men 25-54 (4.0/11) � since 5/3/07.
Friday
"20/20" (10:02-11:00 p.m.)
ABC News' "20/20" finished second in the 10 o'clock hour in Adults 18-49 (2.0/6), while leading the time period among Women 18-49 (2.8/8) and Women 25-54 (3.4/9). In addition, the ABC newsmagazine stood as Friday No. 1 program among both key women demographics.
Saturday
The "ABC Saturday Movie of the Week: War of the Worlds" took second on the night in both Total Viewers (5.6 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.9/6), posting increases from the prior week's movie (5.3 million and 1.6/5 in Adults 18-49 on 1/26/08).
Source: Nielsen Media Research (National Live+Same Day Program Ratings), week of 1/28/08, unless stated otherwise.
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