Primetime Ratings Report For the week of February 4, 2008 (Based on National Live + Same Day Program Ratings)
ABC Takes Second in Adults 18-49, Posting its Highest Rating in 9 Weeks
ABC Claims 5 of the Week's Top 20 TV Programs
In Adults 18-49, Including 3 of the Top 10 Shows
ABC's "Dance War" Leads its Monday Time Period in Viewers and Key Women
Monday's "Special Edition of 20/20: The Final Hours of Natalee Holloway" Delivers The ABC Newsmagazine's Largest Audience and Top Adult Ratings in Over a 1 Year
Opposite Fox's "Idol" and "Moment of Truth,"
ABC Takes Second on Wednesday in Adults 18-49
Growing for its Viewer and Young Adult Delivery for the Second Straight Week, "Wife Swap" Turns in its Best-Yet Numbers Opposite "American Idol" on Wednesday
ABC Wins its Second Straight Thursday of the February Sweep Among
Adults 18-49, Defeating Second-Place CBS by 14% in the Key Sales Demo
Retaining Nearly All of its Week-Earlier Fourth Season Premiere Audience,
ABC's "Lost" Stands as Thursday's No. 1 TV Show for the Second Consecutive Week
Leading its Slot for the Second Week in a Row in Adults 18-49, ABC's "Eli Stone"
Tops NBC's "Lipstick Jungle" Debut by 1.3 Million Viewers and 14% in Adults 18-49
Hitting Season Highs, ABC's "America's Funniest Home Videos"
Draws its Largest Audience and Highest Adult 18-49 Rating in 11 Months
Sunday's No. 1 TV Series in Viewers and Young Adults, ABC's "Home Edition" Generates its Biggest Audience in 1 Year, Airing Against CBS' "Grammy Awards"
WEEK No. 20:
ABC earned second place to Fox during the week of February 4 in Adults 18-49 (2.8/7-tie), Adults 18-34 (2.2/6) and across all key women demos: W18-34 (2.7/8), W18-49 (3.5/9) and W25-54 (4.1/10-tie).
� The Net marked its highest Adults 18-49 and A18-34 ratings in 9 weeks � since the w/o 12/3/07.
Rankings: ABC aired 5 of the week's Top 20 TV programs in Adults 18-49, including 3 of the Top 10: "Lost" � No. 5, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" � No. 7, "20/20 SP Edition-2/4" � No. 10, "Eli Stone" � No. 15 and "Brothers & Sisters" � No. 18 . ABC's "Home Edition" (No. 6) and "Lost" (No. 7) placed among the Top 10 most-watched shows during the week. ABC News' "Special Edition of 20/20: The Final Hours of Natalee Holloway" ranked as TV's No. 1 newsmagazine of the week in key adults (AD18-34/AD18-49/AD25-54), generating "20/20's" strongest performance in more than 1 year.
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 nearly 13% at the same point in 2006, up to more than 22% currently. 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.
Monday
Featuring its lineup of "Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann" and ABC News' "Special Edition of 20/20: The Final Hours of Natalee Holloway," ABC qualified as the most-watched TV network (11.2 million) on the first Monday of the 2008 February sweep. ABC was also No. 1 on the night among Women 18-49 (4.7/12) and Women 25-54 (5.8/13).
� ABC drew its largest audience (11.2 million) and strongest Adults 18-49 (3.4/9) performance since November (11/26/07). In addition, the Net posted increases over the same night last year in both Nielsen measures (8.0 million and 3.3/8 in Adults 18-49 on 02/05/07).
"Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann" (8:00-9:31 p.m.)
ABC's "Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann" led its time period in Total Viewers (9.8 million), Women 18-49 (3.6/9) and Women 25-54 (4.7/11), claiming the top position in its time period for the fourth straight week in the latter women demo.
� "Dance War" saw week-to-week increases in Total Viewers (9.8 million vs. 9.5 million) and across each of the key women demos: Women 18-34 (2.7/7 vs. 2.5/7), Women 18-49 (3.6/9 vs. 3.5/9) and Women 25-54 (4.7/11 vs. 4.6/11).
"Special Edition of 20/20: The Final Hours of Natalee Holloway" (9:31-11:00 p.m.)
ABC News' "Special Edition of 20/20: The Final Hours of Natalee Holloway" took second place in its time period in Total Viewers (12.7 million) and Adults 18-49 (4.3/11). The ABC newsmagazine, reporting on new evidence that has just surfaced prompting Aruban legal authorities to reopen the case, won its time-slot and stood as Monday's No. 1 program in Adults 25-54 (5.2/12) and across each of the key women demographics: Women 18-34 (4.1/11), Women 18-49 (5.8/14) and Women 25-54 (6.9/16).
� The special edition of "20/20" garnered the ABC newsmagazine's largest audience and highest ratings among Adult 18-49 and Adult 25-54 in over a year � since 9/27/06.
Wednesday
ABC took second place on Wednesday night among Adults 18-49 (2.5/6 � tied) to Fox with "American Idol" and "Moment of Truth." The net also finished second across each of the key women demographics: Women 18-34 (3.0/8), Women 18-49 (3.5/8) and Women 25-54 (3.8/8).
� ABC was up from two weeks ago (1/23/08), when it last aired its regular Wednesday lineup, by 5% in Total Viewers (6.4 million vs. 6.1 million) and by 14% in Adults 18-49 (2.5/6 vs. 2.2/6).
"Wife Swap" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
At 8:00 p.m., "Wife Swap" took second to "American Idol" among Adults 18-49 (2.5/6).
� Delivering its strongest numbers to date opposite "American Idol," "Wife Swap" was up from the prior week by 14% in Total Viewers (6.6 million vs. 5.8 million) and by 14% in Adults 18-49 (2.5/6 vs. 2.2/6), posting weekly increases for the second week in a row.
"Supernanny" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
"Supernanny" was up over its most recent telecast (1/23/08) by 6% in Total Viewers (7.6 million vs. 7.2 million) and by 7% in Adults 18-49 (3.0/7 vs. 2.8/7), finishing second in the hour in the key adult demo. The unscripted program also placed second in the hour and registered ABC's highest ratings in the 9 o'clock hour in 4 weeks (since 1/9/08) across each of the key women demos: Women 18-34 (3.4/9), Women 18-49 (4.2/10) and Women 25-54 (4.5/10).
"Cashmere Mafia" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
In the final hour of primetime, ABC's "Cashmere Mafia" was up from its most recent telecast (1/23/08) among Women 18-34 (2.6/7 vs. 2.2/6) and Women 18-49 (2.9/7 vs. 2.7/7).
Thursday
ABC won its second consecutive Thursday during the 2008 February Sweep, beating second-place CBS on the evening by 14% in Adults 18-49 (4.0/11 vs. 3.5/9). After a "Lost" repeat in the 8 o'clock hour against the season premiere of "Survivor: Micronesia," ABC jumped into first place at 9:00 p.m. and won each half-hour from 9:00-11:00 p.m. in Adults 18-49 with originals of "Lost" and "Eli Stone." In addition to leading the night in Adults 18-49, the Network also ranked No. 1 on Thursday in Adults 18-34 (3.7/11), Adults 25-54 (4.5/11) and in all key men and women demographics.
� For the second week in a row, ABC's "Lost" stood as Thursday's No. 1 TV program in Total Viewers and across each of the key adult demographics (AD18-34/AD18-49/AD25-54).
"Lost" (9:00-10:03 p.m.)
Retaining nearly all of its big week-earlier season premiere audience among Total Viewers (95%) and Adults 18-49 (97%), ABC's "Lost" jumped from its lead-in to dominate its new Thursday 9 o'clock time period for the second week in a row. In its time period, the ABC drama outpaced its closest competitors by 3.5 million viewers (15.3 million vs. 11.8 million - CBS) and by 97% in Adults 18-49 (6.5/16 vs. 3.3/8 - NBC).
� "Lost" held on to nearly all of its season premiere audience from the prior week in Total Viewers (95% - 15.3 million vs. 16.1 million) and Adults 18-49 (97% - 6.5/16 vs. 6.7/17), while growing from its season opener among Adults 18-34 (+3% - 6.2/17 vs. 6.0/17) and Women 18-34 (+8% - 6.8/17 vs. 6.3/17).
"Eli Stone" (10:03-11:00 p.m.)
Winning its time period for the second week in a row among Adults 18-49, ABC's freshman "Eli Stone" topped NBC's debut of "Lipstick Jungle" in the 10 o'clock hour by 1.3 million viewers (8.8 million vs. 7.5 million) and by 14% in Adults 18-49 (3.3/9 vs. 2.9/8). "Eli Stone" also took top honors in the hour with Adults 18-34 (2.8/8) and Adults 25-54 (4.0/10).
� Versus its week-ago series debut, "Eli Stone" showed strong retention among Adults 18-34 (88% - 2.8/8 vs. 3.2/10) and Men 18-34 (96% - 2.6/8 vs. 2.7/9).
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 (1.8/5). The ABC newsmagazine led the time period among Women 18-49 (2.5/7) and Women 25-54 (3.1/8) for the fourth week running.
Saturday
ABC's Saturday night lineup of "A Charlie Brown Valentine" and the "ABC Saturday Movie of the Week: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" took second on the evening in both Total Viewers (6.4 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.3/7), delivering its best "non-sports" performance on the night among young adults in 10 months - since 4/7/07.
� ABC led the night across each of the key women demographics: W18-34 - 2.3/8, W18-49 - 2.9/8 and W25-54 - 3.0/8.
Sunday
Opposite a "Grammy"-lifted CBS, ABC took a solid second place on Sunday, beating out third-place Fox with its "2008 Pro Bowl" overrun into the first hour of prime by 4.6 million viewers (12.4 million vs. 7.8 million) and by 30% in Adults 18-49 (4.3/10 vs. 3.3/8).
� In Viewers and Adults 18-49, ABC posted its best Sunday numbers in 5 weeks � since 1/6/08.
� ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" was Sunday's No. 1 series telecast with viewers and young adults. With an appearance by Miley Cyrus of Disney Channel's "Hanna Montana," it was Sunday's No. 1 TV show overall, beating the "Grammys" in Teens 12-17 (4.0/12).
"America's Funniest Home Videos" (7:00-8:00 p.m.)
Hitting a season-high opposite Fox's "AFC/NFC Pro Bowl," ABC's "America's Funniest Home Videos" took second place in its hour among Adults 18-49 (2.9/8).
� "AFV" generated its biggest audience and top Adult 18-49 rating in 11 months � since 3/4/07.
"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (8:00-10:00 p.m.)
ABC's 2-hour episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" built audience in each half-hour against the "Grammy Awards" to rank a strong second in its time period, outpacing third-place Fox by 9.1 million viewers (15.8 million vs. 6.7 million) and by 77% in Adults 18-49 (5.5/12 vs. 3.1/7). From start to finish, the ABC unscripted series gained 5.2 million viewers (13.3 million to 18.5 million) and 52% in Adults 18-49 (4.4/11 to 6.7/15), outdrawing the "Grammy Awards" from 9:30-10:00 p.m. by 1.0 million viewers (18.5 million vs. 17.5 million). The Gilyeat family from Kansas City, KS received a special treat while their home was being rebuilt when they were whisked off to San Diego for a concert and surprise meeting with "Hannah Montana's" Miley Cyrus.
� "Home Edition" attracted its biggest audience and posted its second-highest Adult 18-49 rating in 1 year � since 2/11/07.
"Brothers & Sisters" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
During the 10 o'clock hour, ABC's "Brothers & Sisters" took second to the "Grammys" across each of the key women demographics: W18-34 (2.7/7), W18-49 (4.2/10) and W25-54 (5.1/11).
Source: Nielsen Media Research (National Live+Same Day Program Ratings), week of 2/4/08, unless stated otherwise.
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