Primetime Ratings Report
For the week of December 29, 2008
(Based on National Live + Same Day Program Ratings)
Posting its Strongest Numbers in 4 Weeks, ABC's Delivery Surges
Week to Week by 1.8 Million Viewers and by 50% in Adults 18-49
The Net Places 5 of the Week's Top 15 Programs in Adults 18-49, Including TV's
No. 1 Series Telecast in Viewers and Young Adults with "Desperate Housewives"
ABC's New Year's Eve Lineup Wins Wednesday in Viewers and All Adults Demos
ABC's Rebroadcast "Wednesday Movie of the Week: Shrek 2" Leads from 8-10pm, Beating CBS by Nearly 1.0 Million Viewers and 54% in Adults 18-49
New Year Eve's No. 1 TV Show in Primetime in Viewers and Young Adults,
"Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2009"
Hits Multi-Year Highs Among Adults 18-34, Men 18-34 and Kids 2-11
"Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2009" Beats
The Combined Delivery of CBS and NBC from 10-11pm by 12% in Adults 18-49
Posting its Highest Rating in 6 Weeks, ABC's "20/20" Emerges as Friday's No. 1
Non-Sports Show in Adults 18-49 and Dominates NBC's "Dateline" in the 10pm Hour
Winning Each Hour from 8-11pm, ABC Claims the Top 3 TV Shows on Sunday
In Adults 18-49, Dominating its Non-Sports Prime Competition on NBC and CBS
Growing from its Most-Recent Original and Winning its Hour in Viewers and
Adults 18-49, ABC's "Home Edition" Hits a Season High Number in Adults 18-34
Sunday's No. 1 TV Show, ABC's "Desperate Housewives" Dominates at 9pm and
Is the Night's Most-Watched Entertainment Series for its 11th Straight Original Airing
WEEK No. 15:
During New Year's week (w/o 12/29/08), ABC claimed 5 of the week's Top 15 programs in Adults 18-49, including 3 of the week's Top 4 series telecasts: "Desperate Housewives" � No. 3, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" � No. 5, "Brothers & Sisters" � No. 7, "Rose Bowl-Post Game" � No. 10 and "Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2009" � No. 13. "Desperate Housewives" stood as the week's No. 1 series telecast in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49. ABC News delivered the week's No. 1 newsmagazine in Adults 18-49 with "20/20" on Friday.
� Surging week to week by 1.8 million viewers (6.5 million vs. 4.7 million) and by 50% in Adults 18-49 (2.1/6 vs. 1.4/4), ABC posted its strongest numbers in 4 weeks � since w/o 12/1/08.
A note about increasing DVR penetration and year-to-year rating comparisons: Year-to-year rating comparisons based on the Live + Same Day data stream are distorted by the level of DVR penetration in the Nielsen sample, which has jumped up to 29% currently, from 22% at the same point in 2008.
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.
Wednesday
ABC's New Year's Eve lineup of the "ABC Wednesday Movie of the Week: Shrek 2" and "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2009" won Wednesday evening in Total Viewers (7.1 million) and across each of the key Adult demographics: Adults 18-34 (2.0/8), Adults 18-49 (2.3/8) and Adults 25-54 (2.7/8).
"ABC Wednesday Movie of the Week: Shrek 2" (8:00-10:00 p.m.)
The Net's rebroadcast of the "ABC Wednesday Movie of the Week: Shrek 2" ranked No. 1 in its 2-hour time period in both Total Viewers (6.3 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.0/7), beating CBS by nearly 1.0 million viewers and by 54% in the key young adult sales demographic (5.4 million & 1.3/5).
"Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2009" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
ABC's broadcast of "Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2009," won the final hour of the night and ranked as the No. 1 program in primetime with Total Viewers (8.6 million), across each of the key Adult demos [Adults 18-34 (2.4/10), Adults 18-49 (2.8/11) and Adults 25-54 (3.3/10)] and Teens 12-17 (2.1/10). In fact in the final hour of prime, "Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve" beat the combined deliveries of CBS and NBC in the key young adult sales demo by 12% (2.8/11 vs. 2.5/8).
� "Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2009" was up over the previous year by 9% in Adults 18-34 (2.4/10 vs. 2.2/9), 5% in Men 18-34 (2.0/8 vs. 1.9/8) and 16% in Kids 2-11 (2.9/13 vs. 2.5/11). In fact, "Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2009" delivered its best Adult 18-34 rating in 5 years and highest Men 18-34 and Kids 2-11 numbers in 8 years � since 2003 and 2000, respectively.
Friday
"20/20" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
Facing Fox's "Sugar Bowl" coverage on the evening, ABC's "20/20" emerged as Friday's No. 1 non-sports program among Adults 18-49. During the 10 o'clock hour, "20/20" overshadowed its NBC newsmagazine competition ("Dateline") by 1.8 million viewers (6.6 million vs. 4.8 million) and by 83% in Adults 18-49 (2.2/6 vs. 1.2/3). With reports on "extreme motherhood," the ABC newsmagazine won the hour and stood as the night's No. 1 TV show, beating the college football Bowl Game, with Women 18-34 (2.7/8) and Women 18-49 (3.0/8).
� "20/20" generated its biggest audience in 5 weeks and tallied its top Adult 18-49 number in 6 weeks � since 11/28/08 and 11/21/08, respectively.
Sunday
Opposite an NFL Wild Card Playoff overrun-driven Fox, ABC stood as the dominant non-sports network on Sunday night in Adults 18-49, winning each hour from 8:00-11:00 p.m. In fact in the key young adult sales demo, ABC (3.5/9) defeated NBC with its 2-hour "Saturday Night Live Special" into the 2-hour debut telecast of "Superstars of Dance" by 30% (2.7/7) and CBS with its original lineup by 52% (2.3/6). The Net won the evening across each of the key Women demos (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54).
� ABC delivered Sunday's Top 3 non-sports telecasts with Adults 18-49, including "Desperate Housewives," "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and "Brothers & Sisters." The night's No. 1 TV series overall, ABC's "Desperate Housewives" finished as Sunday's most-watched entertainment program for its 11th straight original telecast this season. "Housewives" posted its 10th time in 11 original broadcasts this season as Sunday's top-rated entertainment series in Adults 18-49.
"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
Surging from its lead-in, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" won the 8 o'clock hour, beating its nearest competitors by 5% in Total Viewers (10.9 million vs. 10.4 million � CBS' "Million Dollar Password") and by 32% in Adults 18-49 (3.7/9 vs. 2.8/7 � NBC's "SNL Sports Extra").
� "Home Edition" was up from its most recent original airing by 5% in Total Viewers and by 12% in Adults 18-49 (10.4 million & 3.3/8 on 12/7/08). Additionally, the ABC unscripted series matched its highest Adult 18-49 rating in 2 months (11/2/08) and hit a season high with Adults 18-34 (2.9/8-tie)
"Desperate Housewives" (9:00-10:01 p.m.)
Sunday's No. 1 program, ABC's "Desperate Housewives" dominated its 9 o'clock time period in Total Viewers (14.4 million) and Adults 18-49 (5.2/12). In the hour, "Housewives" topped runners-up CBS' "Cold Case" by 1.7 million viewers (12.7 million) and NBC's "Superstars of Dance" by 58% (3.3/8).
"Brothers & Sisters" (10:01-11:00 p.m.)
ABC's "Brothers & Sisters" ranked No. 1 during Sunday's 10 o'clock hour across all key Adult demos (A18-34/A18-49/A25-54). In Adults 18-49, "Brothers & Sisters" (3.2/8) topped the final hour of NBC's series debut of "Superstars of Dance" by 7% (3.0/8) and CBS' "The Unit" by 28% (2.5/6). The ABC drama marked its 11th consecutive telecast this season to take first place in the hour with Women 18-49 and Women 25-54.
Source: Nielsen Media Research (National Live+Same Day Program Ratings), week of 12/29/08, unless stated otherwise.
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