Primetime Ratings Report
For the week of January 26, 2009
(Based on National Live + Same Day Program Ratings)
"The Bachelor" Hits Season Highs in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49 and
Stands as Monday's No. 1 TV Show in Women 18-34 for the 4th Week in a Row
"True Beauty" Posts Best-Since-Premiere Performance in Viewers and Young Adults, Leading Monday's 10pm Hour in Adults 18-34, Adults 18-49 and All Key Women
Posting its 4th Straight Week of Year-to-Year Gains on the Night, ABC's Mid-Season Tuesday Surges by 2.1 Million Viewers and by 73% in Adults 18-49 Over Last Year
Demonstrating its Appointment-TV Status, "Lost" Surges from its Lead-in to Beat
Fox's "Idol"-Boosted "Lie to Me" in Wednesday's 9pm Hour by 11% in Adults 18-49,
And Qualifies as Wednesday's No. 1 Scripted TV Show for the 2nd Week in a Row
"Lost" Retains Nearly All of its Week-Earlier Premiere Viewers and Young Adults,
While Posting the Series' Top Men 18-34 and Men 18-49 Numbers Since March '08
Excluding the Prior Week's "Lost" Premiere, ABC's "Life on Mars" Opens on its New Night with ABC's Strongest Series Numbers in the Time Period in Almost 4 Months
Becoming the First-Ever Series to Build on a "Grey's" Repeat in Viewers and Young Adults, "Private Practice" Wins its Thursday Slot in Adults 18-34 and Key Women
ABC Ranks No. 1 on Friday in Adults 18-49, as "Wife Swap" Hits Season Highs and "20/20" Takes First at 10pm, Beating NBC's "Dateline" for the 5th Straight Week
ABC is Sunday's Top Non-Sports Net in Young Adults, with its Results Opposite the
"Super Bowl" Growing by 5% in Viewers and by 17% in Adults 18-49 Year to Year
ABC's Sunday Telecast of "Wipeout Bowl 1" Qualifies as the Highest-Rated
Show to Air Against "Super Bowl" Coverage in 3 Years Among Adults 18-49
WEEK No. 19:
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.
Monday
Increasing over the previous week in viewers (9.4 million vs. 8.6 million) and young adults (3.6/9 vs. 3.3/8) for the 2nd week in a row, ABC's Monday lineup matched its strongest performance in Adults 18-49 since premiere Monday 4 months ago � since 9/22/08. In addition, the Net turned in its strongest Monday ratings in Adults 18-34 (3.4/9) and Women 18-34 (5.1/13) in 10 months � since
3/17/08. ABC ranked No. 1 among Women 18-34 (5.1/13) and Women 18-49 (5.3/12), taking the top spot on the night among Women 18-34 for the 4th consecutive week and ranking No. 1 among Women 18-49 for the 3rd time in the last 4 weeks.
"The Bachelor" (8:00-10:00 p.m.)
Opposite Fox's original dramas, ABC's "The Bachelor" built on the previous week's telecast for the 3rd time in a row, hitting season highs in both Total Viewers (10.6 million) and Adults 18-49 (4.0/10). In fact, the show matched its largest non-finale audience in over 4 1/2 years � since 5/12/04.
� "The Bachelor" won its 8:00 � 10:00 p.m. time-slot, beating Fox's original dramas, across all key Women demos: Women 18-34 (5.8/14), Women 18-49 (5.9/13) and Women 25-54 (6.3/13). In addition, "The Bachelor" led its time period and qualified as Monday's No. 1 TV program among Women 18-34 for the 4th week in a row.
� Leading its final half-hour in Adults 18-49, "The Bachelor" built its audience in each half-hour from 8:00-10:00pm, growing by 1.6 million viewers (9.9 million to 11.5 million) and by 22% in Adults 18-49 (3.6/9 to 4.4/10) from start to finish.
"True Beauty" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
"True Beauty" produced best-since-premiere numbers in both Total Viewers (7.0 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.9/7), winning the 10 o'clock hour in the key young adult sales demographic. The new ABC unscripted series also topped its time period among Adults 18-34 (2.6/7) and in each of the key Women demographics: Women 18-34 (3.8/10), Women 18-49 (4.1/10) and Women 25-54 (4.3/10). "True Beauty" has won its hour among Women 18-34 in all 4 of its airings.
Tuesday
Opposite Fox's "American Idol-"driven lineup, ABC was up over the same night last year (01/29/08) by 14% in Total Viewers (5.7 million vs. 5.0 million) and by a substantial 50% in the key Adults 18-49 sales demo (2.1/6 vs. 1.4/3). Starting mid-season, ABC has posted increases over the same Tuesday a year ago for the 4th consecutive week in both Nielsen measures. On average in the Live + Same Day numbers, the Net is up on Tuesday by 2.1 million viewers (7.6 million vs. 5.1 million) and by 73% in Adults 18-49 (2.7/7 vs. 1.5/4) over the same point in 2008.
"Homeland Security USA" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
Airing against "American Idol," ABC's "Homeland Security USA" generated increases for the Net in the 8:00 p.m. hour, up by 17% in Total Viewers (5.6 million viewers vs. 4.8 million) and by 31% in Adults 18-49 (1.7/4 vs. 1.3/3) over the same night last year. "Homeland Security USA" improved ABC's performance in the hour in both viewers and young adults in all 3 of its telecasts to date.
Wednesday
ABC took second place on Wednesday in Adults 18-49 (2.9/7) to an "American Idol"-driven Fox, besting third-place NBC by 38% (2.1/5) and fourth-place CBS by 53% (1.9/5).
"Lost" (9:00-10:02 p.m.)
Demonstrating its appointment-television status, "Lost" surged from its lead-in by 6.0 million viewers and by 172% in young adults to win the 9 o'clock hour in Adults 18-49 and stand as Wednesday's No. 1 scripted TV show for the 2nd week in a row. Winning the 9 o'clock hour, "Lost" overcame Fox's "Idol"-boosted episode of "Lie to Me" by 11% in Adults 18-49 (4.9/12 vs. 4.4/10).
� For the 2nd week in a row, "Lost" qualified as Wednesday's No. 1 scripted TV program in Adults 18-49, Adults 25-54 and across each of the key Men demographics (M18-34/M18-49/M25-54). Moving ahead of Fox's "Lie to Me" on their second match-up, "Lost" also emerged as the night's highest-rated scripted series in Adults 18-34.
� "Lost" retained nearly all of its week-ago season premiere delivery in Total Viewers (98% - 11.2 million vs. 11.4 million) and Adults 18-49 (98% - 4.9/12 vs. 5.0/12). The show was up from its season opener in key Men, posting the series' highest-rated telecast since early March 2008 in Men 18-34 (4.5/13 vs. 4.2/12) and Men 18-49 (4.7/12 vs. 4.5/12) � since 3/6/08.
"Life on Mars" (10:02-11:00 p.m.)
On its new night, ABC's "Life on Mars" ranked No. 2 against its veteran NBC ("Law & Order") and CBS ("C.S.I.: NY") drama competition in the 10 o'clock hour among Men 18-49 (1.9/5) and Men 25-54 (2.5/7-tie).
� Excluding the prior week's 2-hour "Lost" which ran into the hour, "Life on Mars" drew ABC's biggest audience (6.2 million) and top Adult 18-49 rating (2.1/6) with series programming in the time slot in nearly 4 months � since 10/1/08.
Thursday
"Private Practice" (10:02-11:00 p.m.)
Surging from its lead-in by 2.1 million viewers and by 65% in young adults, "Private Practice" took second place in the 10 o'clock hour in Total Viewers (7.7 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.8/8). "Private Practice" won the final hour of prime among Adults 18-34 (2.6/8), Women 18-34 (4.0/11) and Women 18-49 (4.4/11). Additionally, the ABC sophomore drama logged its 4th straight week as the No. 1 entertainment program in its slot among Adults 18-34 and Women 18-34.
� "Private Practice" jumped from its lead-in by 2.1 million and by 65% in Adults 18-49, representing the first time ever that an original series telecast built on a repeat "Grey's Anatomy" (5.6 million & 1.7/4 in Adults 18-49) in viewers and young adults.
Friday
ABC's Friday lineup of "Wife Swap" and back-to-back episodes of "20/20" lifted the Network to the No. 1 position in Adults 18-49 (1.8/6 - tie).
"Wife Swap" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
Hitting season-highs, "Wife Swap" drew its largest audience (5.0 million) and matched its highest Adults 18-49 performance (1.7/6) ever in its Friday time period.
"20/20" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
Building on its lead-in and on the previous week's telecast, ABC News' "20/20" ranked No. 1 in the final hour of prime in both Adults 18-49 (1.9/6) and Adults 25-54 (2.4/7-tie).
� For the 5th consecutive week, "20/20" topped its newsmagazine competition in the hour, NBC's "Dateline," in both Total Viewers (6.6 million vs. 6.2 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.9/6 vs. 1.8/5).
Sunday
Opposite NBC's "Super Bowl XLII" telecast, ABC (1.4/3) stood as Sunday's No. 1 non-sports network during primetime in Adults 18-49, outpacing Fox by 40% (1.0/2) and CBS by 75% (0.8/2).
� Featuring a repeat of "America's Funniest Home Videos" during the 7 o'clock hour, followed by special "Wipeout" programming (repeat/original) during the remainder of the night (including a special "Wipeout Bowl 1: Cheerleaders vs. Couch Potatoes" during the "Super Bowl Halftime" show), ABC's numbers were up from "Super Bowl Sunday" last year (2/3/08) by 5% in Total Viewers (4.1 million vs. 3.9 million) and by 17% in Adults 18-49 (1.4/3 vs. 1.2/2).
� ABC's "Wipeout Bowl 1: Cheerleaders vs. Couch Potatoes" drew an average audience of 6.0 million viewers and a 2.4 rating, 5 share among Adults 18-49, qualifying as the highest-rated program in 3 years to air against "Super Bowl" coverage in the key young adult sales demo � since episodes of Fox's "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy" on 2/5/06.
Source: Nielsen Media Research (National Live+Same Day Program Ratings), week of 1/26/09, unless stated otherwise.
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