Primetime Ratings Report For the week of August 3, 2009
(Based on National Live + Same Day Program Ratings)
Surging from its Lead-in and Greatly Improving the Time Slot for ABC, "Dating in
The Dark" Wins Monday's 10pm Hour for the 3rd Straight Week in Adults 18-34
ABC Grows its Wednesday Numbers Year to Year for the 9th Straight Week
Opposite the Wednesday Finale of Fox's "Dance," ABC's "Wipeout" Returns to
Original and Wins Wednesday's 8pm Hour in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49
An "All-Stars" Edition of "Wipeout" Attracts the Series' Biggest
Audience in 4 Weeks and Hits 8-Week Highs Across All Key Men Demos
In its Season Finale, "I Survived a Japanese Game Show" Surges
Week to Week by 9% in Total Viewers and by 17% in Adults 18-49
ABC Turns in its Strongest Non-Sports Sunday of Summer 2009
"America's Funniest Home Videos" Achieves Summer-High Results and
Finishes No. 1 in its Slot for the 3rd Straight Week with Adults 18-49
In its Return on Sunday from 8-9pm, ABC's "Millionaire" Generates ABC's
Biggest Non-Sports Summer Audience in the Time Period in Nearly 2 Years
ABC's Debut of "Shark Tank" Posts Strong Week-to-Week Gains in the Slot and
Shows Solid Lead-in Retention of "Millionaire" in Young Adults and Young Women
WEEK No. 46:
Monday
"Dating in the Dark" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
Jumping from its lead-in by 1.1 million viewers (3.7 million vs. 2.6 million) and by 60% in Adults 18-49 (1.6/5 vs. 1.0/5), ABC's "Dating in the Dark" won its Monday 10 o'clock time period for the 3rd consecutive week (on each telecast) in Adults 18-34 (1.5/5) and Women 18-34 (1.9/6).
� Continuing to deliver strong improvement in the hour year to year for ABC, "Dating in the Dark" boosted the time period by 19% in Total Viewers (3.7 million vs. 3.1 million) and by 33% in Adults 18-49 (1.6/5 vs. 1.2/4) over the year-ago night with original programming ("The Mole" on 8/4/08).
Tuesday
"Primetime: Family Secrets" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
ABC News' "Primetime: Family Secrets" jumped from its lead-in by 1.7 million viewers (3.3 million vs. 1.6 million), by 117% in Adults 18-49 (1.3/4 vs. 0.6/2) and by 100% in Adults 25-54 (1.4/4 vs. 0.7/2). The newsmagazine took second place in the final hour of prime in both key Adult demographics (AD18-49/AD25-54).
Wednesday
With the return of "Wipeout" to original and the season closer of "I Survived a Japanese Game Show," ABC took second place on Wednesday night among Adults 18-49 (1.8/6), while delivering the No. 1 position on the evening across the key Men demographics: M18-34 (1.6/6), M18-49 (1.8/6) and M25-54 (2.1/6).
� ABC improved its Wednesday results year to year by 11% in Total Viewers (5.1 million vs. 4.6 million) and by 29% in Adults 18-49 (1.8/6 vs. 1.4/4). In fact the Net finished above the year-ago Wednesday for the 9th straight week in Total Viewers and has also been up or even for 9 weeks running in the key young adult sales demo.
"Wipeout" (8:00-9:02 p.m.)
After airing in repeat the prior week, ABC's "Wipeout" returned to original with an "All-Stars" edition and won the 8 o'clock hour in Total Viewers (8.0 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.8/10). Impressively, "Wipeout's" victory came against the opening hour of Fox's Wednesday season finale of "So You Think You Can Dance." It was the 6th straight original telecast for "Wipeout" to place No. 1 in the hour with Total Viewers, the 3rd straight in Adults 18-49 and the 9th straight across all key Men demos (M18-34/M18-49/M25-54).
� Finishing as the No. 1 TV show of the night across key Men (M18-34/M18-49/M25-54), "Wipeout" registered its 5th consecutive original telecast as Wednesday's top-rated television show in Men 18-49. It was the No. 2 TV show of the evening among Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, trailing only NBC's "Talent" in the 9 o'clock hour.
� "Wipeout" marked its top numbers in 4 weeks with Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, while hitting its highest ratings in 8 weeks across all key Men demos � since 7/8/09 and 6/10/09, respectively.
"I Survived a Japanese Game Show" (9:02-11:00 p.m.)
ABC's 2-hour season finale of "I Survived a Japanese Game Show" built audience from its first hour to its second hour in Adults 18-34 (1.2/4 to 1.3/5), Men 18-34 (1.1/4 to 1.3/5) and Women 18-34 (1.2/4 to 1.3/4), defeating its CBS ("CSI: NY") and NBC ("The Philanthropist") competition from 10:00-11:00 p.m. on all 3 Nielsen measures. Additionally during the 10 o'clock hour, ABC's "Japanese Game Show" beat out NBC's "The Philanthropist" by 27% in Adults 18-49 (1.4/4 vs. 1.1/3).
� In its season finale, "I Survived a Japanese Game Show" saw its numbers jump week to week by 9% in Total Viewers (3.7 million vs. 3.4 million) and by 17% in Adults 18-49 (1.4/4 vs. 1.2/4).
Sunday
On a night that included the return of "Millionaire" and the debut of "Shark Tank," opposite competition that included NBC's NFL "Hall of Fame Game" (Buffalo-Tennessee), ABC posted its strongest non-sports Sunday of Summer �09 with Total Viewers (4.9 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.3/4).
� ABC's Sunday night results improved over the same night last year by 1.1 million viewers and by 18% in Adults 18-49 (8/10/08 = 3.8 million and 1.1/3).
"America's Funniest Home Videos" (7:00-8:00 p.m.)
Hitting summer-highs in Viewers (5.9 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.6/6), ABC's repeat "America's Funniest Home Videos" ranked No. 1 (tie) in its time period for the 3rd straight week in the key young adult sales demo.
"Millionaire - 8/9" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
Building on its lead-in by more than 1 million viewers (7.0 million vs. 5.8 million) against stiff competition, including NBC's NFL "Hall of Fame Game" and CBS' time-slot regular "Big Brother 11," ABC's return of "Millionaire" finished as the No. 2 non-sports program in the 8 o'clock hour with Total Viewers. From its first half-hour to its second half-hour, "Millionaire" saw its audience grow in both viewers and young adults.
� On the opening evening of its 11-night, 10th-anniversary event, "Millionaire" produced ABC's biggest non-sports summer audience during Sunday's 8:00 p.m. hour in nearly 2 years � since 8/19/07.
"Shark Tank" (9:00-10:01 p.m.)
Despite facing NFL competition, ABC's "Shark Tank" debuted with strong retention of its lead-in during the 9 o'clock hour, retaining 87% in Adult 18-49 lead-in (1.3/4 vs. 1.5/5), 100% in Adults 18-34 (0.9/3), and built on its "Millionaire" lead by 10% with Women 18-34 (1.1/3 vs. 1.0/3). The new ABC unscripted series gained young adults throughout its broadcast.
� Week to week, "Shark Tank" boosted the hour for ABC by 14% in Total Viewers (4.2 million vs. 3.7 million) and by 30% in Adults 18-49 (1.3/4 vs. 1.0/3).
"Defying Gravity" (10:01-11:00 p.m.)
On its second week, ABC's "Defying Gravity" held 91% of its week-earlier series premiere Adult 18-49 delivery (1.0/3 vs. 1.1/3) and retained 100% of its Adult 18-34 audience (0.5/2).
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 32% currently, from 26% 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.
Source: Nielsen Media Research (National Live+Same Day Program Ratings), week of 8/3/09, unless stated otherwise.
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