Primetime Ratings Report For the week of April 7, 2008 (Based on National Live + Same Day Program Ratings)
ABC Claims 4 of the Top 20 TV Shows in Adults 18-49
And 3 of the Top 10 Most-Watched Programs for the Week
"Desperate Housewives" Ranks as the No. 1 Scripted Show in Adults 18-49
Monday's Most-Watched Television Show for the 4th Straight Week,
"Dancing with the Stars" Wins Each of its Half-Hours in Viewers and Young Adults
In its Return, ABC's "Samantha Who?" is Up Sharply from its Most Recent Airing, Taking Second to Basketball in Adults 18-49 and Ranking No. 1 in Key Women Demos
Surging from its Lead-in, ABC's "DWTS Results" is the Top Draw in its Time Slot, Leading Second-Place Fox's "Idol"-Boosted "Hell's Kitchen" by 5.8 Million Viewers
For the Third Straight Week, "DWTS" is Tuesday's No. 2 Show to "Idol" in Viewers
In its Return, "Boston Legal" is the Most-Watched Show in its Time Period, with
The Series' Largest Audience in 5 Months and Top Adult 18-49 Rating in 4 Months
"Primetime: The Last Lecture" Delivers ABC's Best Numbers in the
Wednesday 10pm Hour in Viewers and Young Adults in 10 Weeks,
Standing as the Week's No. 1 Newsmagazine in Adults 18-49
ABC Wins its 8th Straight Sunday in Adults 18-49 by Wide Margins,
Beating No. 2 CBS by 30%, No. 3 Fox by 46% and No. 4 NBC by 169%
"Desperate Housewives" Returns as Sunday's No. 1 TV Show, Registering
As the Night's Top-Rated Series on All 11 of its Original Telecasts This Season
"Oprah's Big Give" Earns Second in its New 8 O'clock Time Slot in Viewers and
Young Adults, While Ranking No. 1 in the Hour Across the Key Women Demos
On its First Original Airing in Over 3 Months, "Desperate Housewives" Dominates its Nearest Time Slot Competition by 8.0 Million Viewers and by 119% in Adults 18-49
ABC's Special "Eli Stone" Wins the 10pm Hour in Viewers and Young Adults, with
The Freshman ABC Series' Best Numbers Since Early February
WEEK No. 29:
ABC took second place to Fox during the week of April 7, 2008, in Women 18-34 (2.4/7) and Women 18-49 (3.2/8). ABC beat NBC for the week by 1.5 million viewers (8.1 million vs. 6.6 million) and by 14% in Adults 18-49 (2.4/7 vs. 2.1/6).
� ABC was up week to week by 7% in Total Viewers (8.1 million vs. 7.6 million) and by 9% in Adults 18-49 (2.4/7 vs. 2.2/6).
Rankings: ABC aired 4 of the week's Top 20 TV shows in Adults 18-49, including the No. 1 scripted series with "Desperate Housewives" (tied w/"C.S.I."): "Desperate Housewives" � No. 5, "Dancing with the Stars" � No. 8, "Dancing w/Stars Results" � No. 15 and "Samantha Who?" � No. 17. Additionally the Network placed 3 of the Top 10 most-watched television programs for the week, including "Dancing with the Stars" (No. 4), "Dancing w/Stars Results" (No. 7) and "Desperate Housewives" (No. 8). "Samantha Who?" stood as the week's most-watched half-hour comedy. "Primetime: The Last Lecture" on Wednesday night qualified as the No. 1 newsmagazine during the week in Adults 18-49, representing the second straight week that ABC News claimed the top-rated news program in the young adult demo.
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 jumped from over 15% at the same point in 2006, up to nearly 24% 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
In Total Viewers (14.0 million) and Adults 18-49 (3.9/10), ABC earned second place on Monday to CBS with its coverage of the 2008 NCAA Basketball Men's Championship game. ABC beat its nearest non-sports competition on the evening by 5.5 million viewers and by 50% in Adults 18-49 (NBC = 8.5 million and 2.6/7). The Network ranked No. 1 on the evening for the fourth straight week across each of the key women demos: W18-34 (4.0/11), W18-49 (5.7/14) and W25-54 (7.0/16).
"Dancing with the Stars" (8:00-9:32 p.m.)
Winning its time period and leading each of its half-hours in viewers and young adults, ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" stood as Monday's most-watched show (19.7 million) for the fourth week in a row � attracting more viewers than CBS' championship basketball game (19.5 million). In addition, "DWTS" was the night's top non-sports program among Adults 18-49 (4.9/13).
"Samantha Who?" (9:32-10:02 p.m.)
In its return, ABC's "Samantha Who?" took second place to CBS' college basketball championship coverage in Adults 18-49 (3.4/8), while ranking No. 1 with Women 18-49 (5.1/12) and Women 25-54 (6.0/13). Behind only "DWTS," the freshman ABC comedy stood as the No. 2 TV show on Monday among Women 18-49 and Women 25-54.
� "Samantha Who?" was up from its most recent original telecast (12/10/07) by 3.7 million viewers (10.4 million vs. 6.7 million) and by 21% in Adults 18-49 (3.4/8 vs. 2.8/7).
Tuesday
ABC qualified as the second-most-watched network (10.7 million) on Tuesday to an "Idol"-led Fox, topping third-place NBC by 1.8 million viewers (8.9 million) and fourth-place CBS by 2.4 million viewers (8.3 million).
"Dancing with the Stars Results" (9:00-10:02 p.m.)
Surging from its lead-in ("Just for Laughs" = 5.4 million and 1.5/4) by 11.6 million viewers and by 140% in Adults 18-49, ABC's "Dancing with the Stars Results" (17.0 million and 3.6/9) outdrew Fox's "Idol"-boosted "Hell's Kitchen" (11.2 million) to win its 9 o'clock time period by 5.8 million viewers. Television and Radio personality Adam Carolla was the fourth celebrity to be eliminated from ABC dance contest this season.
� The ABC dance competition stood as Tuesday's No. 2 TV show for the third straight week, trailing only "Idol" and outdelivering the No. 3 show of the night, CBS' original "NCIS," by 2.9 million viewers (14.1 million from 8:00-9:00 p.m.).
"Boston Legal" (10:02-11:00 p.m.)
In its return to the time period on its first telecast in nearly 2 months, ABC's "Boston Legal" came back as the most-watched show (9.6 million) in Tuesday's 10 o'clock hour. The ABC legal-drama topped its original competition in the time period, CBS' third-place series debut of "Secret Talents of the Stars," by 5.0 million viewers (9.6 million vs. 4.6 million) and by 53% in Adults 18-49 (2.3/6 vs. 1.5/4). "Boston Legal" also ranked No. 1 in its time slot among Men 25-54 (2.6/7-tie).
� "Boston Legal" was up from its most recent airing in mid-February by 2.2 million viewers and by 28% in Adults 18-49 (7.4 million and 1.8/5 on 2/19/08), posting the series' largest audience in 5 months and highest Adult 18-49 rating in 4 months � since 11/13/07 and 12/11/07, respectively.
Wednesday
"Primetime: The Last Lecture - A Love Story For Your Life" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
ABC News' "Primetime: The Last Lecture - A Love Story For Your Life Story" delivered the Net's largest audience (8.1 million) and strongest Adults 18-49 performance (2.7/7) in the hour in 10 weeks - since 1/30/08. The Diane Sawyer report featured Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch, who was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer last August, and his "last lecture," which has become an internet phenomenon viewed by millions of people.
Thursday
"Eli Stone" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
Despite airing opposite original programming on CBS and NBC, included the return of NBC's "ER," ABC freshman "Eli Stone" was up over the previous week by 13% in Total Viewers (5.9 million vs. 5.2 million) and by 13% in Adults 18-49 (1.8/5 vs. 1.6/4).
Sunday
Although the Net faced CBS' overrun of the Masters Golf Tournament during the opening hour of prime, ABC won its eighth straight Sunday in the key Adult 18-49 sales demographic. In fact ABC (3.5/9) led the evening by wide margins, defeating second-place CBS by 30% (2.7/7), third-place Fox by 46% (2.4/6) and fourth-place NBC by 169% (1.3/3).
� In Total Viewers (10.5 million) and Adults 18-49 (3.5/9), ABC garnered its highest Sunday numbers in 6 weeks � since 3/2/08.
� On its first original airing in more than 3 months, ABC's "Desperate Housewives" returned as Sunday's No. 1 TV program in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49. In fact "Housewives" has ranked as Sunday's top-rated series on all 11 of its original telecast this season
"America's Funniest Home Videos" (7:00-8:00 p.m.)
Opposite CBS' Masters Tournament overrun, ABC's "America's Funniest Home Videos" took second place during the 7 o'clock hour in Total Viewers (7.7 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.4/7).
"Oprah's Big Give" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
Building on its lead-in in its new 8 o'clock time period, ABC's "Oprah's Big Give" took second place in Total Viewers (9.0 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.9/8), while delivering the No. 1 position in the hour across each of the key women demographics: W18-34 (3.0/9-tie), W18-49 (3.8/10) and W25-54 (4.3/10).
"Desperate Housewives" (9:00-10:02 p.m.)
The night's No. 1 TV show, ABC's "Desperate Housewives" dominated on its return to Sunday's 9 o'clock hour, in its first original telecast since early January (1/6/08). In its time period, "Housewives" beat out its nearest competitors by 8.0 million viewers (16.4 million vs. 8.4 million - CBS) and by 119% in Adults 18-49 (5.9/14 vs. 2.7/6 - Fox).
"Eli Stone" (10:02-11:00 p.m.)
A special airing of ABC freshman "Eli Stone" won the 10 o'clock hour in Total Viewers (8.81 million). "Eli Stone" beat second-place CBS by 17% in Adults 18-49 (2.8/7 vs. 2.4/6).
� "Eli Stone" was up from its most recent telecast by 2.9 million viewers and by 56% in Adults 18-49 (5.9 million and 1.8/5 on 4/10/08), drawing the series' largest audience and its highest Adult 18-49 rating since early February � since 2/7/08.
Source: Nielsen Media Research (National Live+Same Day Program Ratings), week of 4/7/08, unless stated otherwise.
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