Primetime Ratings Report for the week of May 6, 2013
(Based on National Live + Same Day Program Ratings)
ABC Wins the Season's Final Complete Week in Adults 18-49, Becoming The First-Ever Network to Beat Fox During the Week of its "Idol" Finales
The Net Builds to its Strongest Non-"Oscar" Week Since November
ABC is Monday's Most-Watched TV Network for the 3rd Consecutive Week
Monday's No. 1 Show, "DWTS" Tops "The Voice" by a Best-Yet 2.0 Million Viewers
The No. 1 TV Series in its Slot on Each of its Last 6 Originals,
ABC's "Castle" Season Finale is Up 10% in Adults 18-49
Up for the 2nd Straight Tuesday in Adults 18-49, the 300th Episode of "Dancing"
Outdraws NBC's "The Voice" by 1.4 Million Viewers in Head-to-Head Competition
"The Middle" Grows Among Adults 18-49 and Ties the "Idol" Finale in Teens
With a 5-Week High, "Modern Family" Tops Fox's "Idol-Wed" Finale in Adults 18-49
Building in Viewers and Young Adults, "Nashville" Earns its Best Results in 5 Weeks
Despite Facing the "Idol" Finale, "Grey's Anatomy" Matches a 4-Month High
In Adults18-49 and is the No. 1 Scripted Show in its Slot for 7 Straight Originals
ABC's "Scandal" Sophomore Finale Spikes Year to Year, Marking the Series'
Most-Watched Telecast Ever and Soaring to New Highs in Social Activity
ABC Wins the Season's Final Friday, Claiming the No. 1 TV Show with "Shark Tank"
"Shark Tank" Surges 19% over its Year-Ago Finale to Cap Out its Best-Ever Season
"20/20" is Friday's No. 1 Newsmagazine with Double-Digit Year-to-Year Growth
ABC Dominates the Final Sunday of the Season with Total Viewers and Adults 18-49
ABC's Season Finale of "America's Funniest Home Videos" is Up Over Last Year's Closer by 15% in Viewers and 13% in Adults 18-49 to its Strongest Finale in 3 Years
Spiking Year to Year, ABC's "2013 Billboard Music Awards" Delivers an
Across-the-Board Win in its Slot, Posting its Biggest Numbers in 10 Years
Week No. 34
ABC won the final complete week of the 2012-13 season in Adults 18-49 (w/o 5/13/13 - 2.0/6), becoming the first-ever network to beat Fox during the week of its "Idol" finales (going back to 2003). The Net also ranked No. 1 for the week with Adults 25-54 and across all key Women (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54).
· Building its Adult 18-49 audience for 5 weeks straight (+5% - 2.0/6 vs. 1.9/6) and up for the 3rd week in Total Viewers (+4% - 7.5 million vs. 7.2 million), ABC marked its biggest non-"Oscar" week since November - since w/o 11/26/12.
Rankings: The Net aired 4 of the Top 15 TV programs in Adults 18-49: "Modern Family" - No. 3, "Billboard Music Awards" - No. 5, "Scandal" - No. 10 and "Grey's Anatomy" - No. 11. In addition, ABC's "Scandal" stood as the No. 1 10 o'clock series for the 3rd consecutive week in Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54, qualifying as TV's No. 1 regular 10:00 p.m. drama with young adults on each of its last 13 originals this season (on each week since its January return). ABC's "20/20" was the No. 1 newsmagazine for the 2nd week in a row in Adults 18-49.
Monday
With the "Dancing" semifinals and the "Castle" season finale, ABC ranked as Monday's most-watched TV network for the 4th week in a row, topping all 6 half-hours and outdrawing runner-up NBC by 3.2 million viewers (12.6 million vs. 9.4 million). "DWTS" was Monday's most-watched TV show for the 3rd week running. "Castle" was Monday's most-watched scripted series for its 9th consecutive broadcast to finish out as the 2012-13 season's top scripted show on the night. "Castle" (2.1/6) won the 10 o'clock hour by double-digit margins in Adults 18-49 over its drama competition, beating NBC's "The Voice"-led "Revolution" by 11% (1.9/5) and CBS' "Hawaii Five-0" by 17% (1.8/5).
"Dancing with the Stars" (8:00-10:01 p.m.)
In head-to-head competition, ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" widened its lead over NBC's "The Voice" to a season-best 2.0 million viewers (13.3 million vs. 11.3 million) and continued to narrow the gap in Adults 18-49. The ABC unscripted series held even week to week (2.0/6) as the NBC show continued to decline (3.8/11 vs. 4.1/11 on 5/6/13).
"Castle" (10:01-11:00 p.m.)
Up week to week in viewers (+4%) and young adults (+10%), ABC's season finale of "Castle" finished a strong No. 1 in the 10 o'clock hour on both measures (11.2 million and 2.1/6). Building on its lead-in, "Castle" was the No. 1 TV series in the time period in Adults 18-49 on each of its last 6 originals this season. "Castle" drew its 4th largest audience of the season.
Up week to week (+6%) and year to year (+6%) on the night, ABC (8.3 million) earned second to CBS' Tuesday season finale lineup in Total Viewers, leading NBC by 11% (7.5 million) and Fox by 98% (4.2 million).
"Wipeout" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
In the 8:00 p.m. hour against CBS' "NCIS" finale and the season opener of Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance," ABC's special "Wipeout" boosted its time slot week to week by 10% in Adults 18-49 (1.1/4 vs. 1.0/3) to match a 5-week high in the hour - since 4/9/13. "Wipeout" improved its hour year to year by 36% in Total Viewers (4.5 million vs. 3.3 million) and by 10% in Adults 18-49 (1.1/4 vs. 1.0/3) over original programming on the year-ago evening.
"DWTS: The Results Show" (9:00-10:01 p.m.)
Celebrating the program's 300th episode, ABC's "DWTS: The Results Show" shot up over its lead-in (+64%) and posted its 2nd week of Adult 18-49 growth (+6% - 1.8/5 vs. 1.7/5). Soap opera star Ingo Rademacher was the next celebrity to leave the competition this season. Tuesday's most-watched unscripted series, ABC's dancing results show outdrew NBC's "The Voice" by 1.4 million viewers (11.9 million vs. 10.5 million) in head-to-head competition in the hour and defeated Fox's comedy finales among Adults 18-49 (+6% over "New Girl"/"Mindy Project" = 1.7/5).
"Body of Proof" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
Gaining 5% week to week (8.6 million vs. 8.2 million), ABC's "Body of Proof" was the most-watched TV show during Tuesday's 10 o'clock hour for its 7th straight telecast.
Wednesday
Wednesday's No. 1 TV show over the finale of "American Idol-WED," ABC's "Modern Family" became the first-ever show to outdeliver any finale of "Idol" in Adults 18-49, leading by a definitive 23% (3.7/10 vs. 3.0/10). In fact on each of its last 7 first-run airings, "Modern" beat or tied "Idol-WED." During primetime, ABC (2.0/6) outpaced CBS by 5% (1.9/6) and NBC by 25% (1.6/5). Each of the Net's Wednesday returning series were up in Adults 18-49.
"The Middle" (8:00-8:30 p.m.)
Taking second to the "Idol" finale at 8:00 p.m., ABC's "The Middle" was up 6% over the prior week in Adults 18-49 (1.9/7 vs. 1.8/6). For the 2nd week in a row, the ABC family comedy held the No. 1 position in the half-hour in Teens 12-17 (1.4/6), tying the "Idol" finale.
"Modern Family" (9:00-9:30 p.m.)
More than tripling its Adult 18-49 lead-in at 9:00 p.m. (+208%), ABC's "Modern Family" (3.7/10) dominated its half-hour, beating runner-up "Criminal Minds by 48% (2.5/7), Fox's "Idol"-led "So You Think You Can Dance" by 61% (2.3/7) and NBC's "L&O: SVU" by 164% (1.4/4). "Modern Family" was up week to week in viewers (+11% - 10.0million vs. 9.0 million) and young adults (+12% - 3.7/10 vs. 3.3/9), hitting a 5-week high on both counts.
"Nashville" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
At 10:00 p.m., the biggest Wednesday gainer, ABC's "Nashville," grew 6% week to week in Adults 18-49 (1.7/5 vs. 1.6/4) and increased its overall audience for the 2nd week running (+4% - 5.6 million vs. 5.4 million) to deliver its best results in 5 weeks - since 4/10/13.
Thursday
"Grey's Anatomy" (9:00-10:02 p.m.)
More than tripling its Adult 18-49 lead-in (+210%) at 9:00 p.m. opposite the second hour of Fox's "Idol" finale, ABC's season finale of "Grey's Anatomy" (3.1/9) was the No. 1 scripted show in its hour for its 7th consecutive first-run airing, beating NBC's series finale of "The Office" (+7% - 2.9/8 from 9:00-10:00 p.m) and the opening hour of CBS' 2-hour season finale of "Elementary" (+55% - 2.0/6). The ABC medical drama won the hour with Women 18-34, beating "Idol" by 6%.
· Despite facing the "Idol" closer, "Grey's" held even week to week, equaling a 4-month high - since 01/10/13.
"Scandal" (10:02-11:00 p.m.)
Building on its "Grey's" Adult 18-49 lead-in for the 3rd time in 4 weeks, ABC's sophomore season finale of "Scandal" (3.2/9) dominated the 10 o'clock hour, beating the second hour of CBS' "Elementary" finale by 68% (1.9/5) to finish as the No. 1 TV series in its slot on each of its last 16 first-run broadcasts. In addition, the "Scandal" finale delivered higher ratings than the "Idol" finale on the night in Adults 18-34 and key Women (W18-34/W18-49), standing as Thursday's No. 1 TV show with Women 18-34.
· "Scandal" (9.1 million) delivered the series' most-watched telecast ever (up for the 3rd week in a row) and tied a series high in Adults 18-49 for the 2nd week running. The show also achieved new all-time highs across all key Women (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54).
· "Scandal" spiked over its year-ago freshman season finale (7.3 million and 2.3/7 on 5/17/12) in Total Viewers (+25%) and Adults 18-49 (+39%).
"Scandal" Social Activity: "Scandal" once again topped Thursday night as the most social series with 571,353 tweets, which is its highest number ever. Jumping 83% from the prior week, "Scandal" delivered over 4.3 million tweets this season, making it ABC's most social program. As it has continually done this season, "Scandal" outperformed the "American Idol" finale by 56% in number of tweets (366,061 tweets).
Friday
With back-to-back "Shark Tank" episodes, including the season finale at 9:00 p.m. leading into "20/20," ABC won the final Friday of the season in Total Viewers (5.8 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.6/6). ABC's "Shark Tank" stood as the No. 1 show of the night in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49. And out of the 4 newsmagazines airing on the evening, ABC's "20/20" ranked No. 1 in viewers and key adults (AD18-49/AD25-54), outdelivering NBC's 2-hour "Dateline" from 8:00-10:00 p.m., NBC's "Rock Center" at 10:00 p.m. and CBS' "48 Hours" at 10:00 p.m. Up 23% from season finale Friday last year, ABC finished out as Friday's No. 1 TV network for the 2012-13 season in Adults 18-49, building 13% year to year to its highest delivery on the night in 4 years - since the 2008-09 season.
"Shark Tank-FRI 8PM" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
From 8:00-9:00 p.m., the first installment of "Shark Tank" ranked No. 1 among Adults 18-49 (1.3/5) with a 7-week high for ABC in the time period (since 3/22/13), beating out CBS' season finale of "Undercover Boss" by 30% (1.0/4).
"Shark Tank" (9:00-10:01 p.m.)
Friday's No. 1 show, ABC's "Shark Tank" finale dominated the 9 o'clock hour in Adults 18-49 (1.9/7), growing 6% week to week and topping its year-ago finale by 19% for its highest-ever season closer (versus 1.8/6 and 1.6/6, respectively). "Shark Tank" was also up by 1.2 million viewers from last season's finale (6.7 million vs. 5.5 million). The finale featured the first "Shark Tank" Extra, a clip of the pitch from Disney Channel's "Phineas and Ferb's" nefarious Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz. On average, "Shark Tank" marked its strongest season ever with a 17% year-to-year increase in Adults 18-49.
"20/20" (10:01-11:00 p.m.)
ABC's "20/20" won the 10 o'clock hour in Total Viewers (5.5 million), Adults 18-49 (1.5/5) and Adults 25-54 (1.9/6), defeating CBS' "48 Hours" (4.3 million, 1.0/3 and 1.4/4) and NBC's "Rock Center with Brian Williams" (5.0 million, 1.3/4 and 1.8/5). For the 2nd week in a row, the ABC newsmagazine surged by double digits over its delivery on the same night last May in Total Viewers (+25%), Adults 18-49 (+25%) and Adults 25-54 (+27%).
Saturday
From 9:00-11:00 p.m., ABC's "A Special Edition of 20/20 with Barbara Walters - Rock and Royalty: Billboard's All-Stars" stood as the most-watched broadcast program (3.6 million) and gave the Net its biggest audience in the 2-hour slot in 7 weeks, excluding sports programming - since 3/30/13. "A Special Edition of 20/20 with Barbara Walters" grew over the most-recent 2-hour installment of "20/20" on the night two weeks ago by 16% in Total Viewers (3.6 million vs. 3.1 million).
Sunday
With the season finale of "America's Funniest Home Videos" and "The 2013 Billboard Music Awards," ABC (3.1/9) dominated the final Sunday of the season in Adults 18-49 (No. 1 in all 8 half-hours), beating Fox's night of season finales by 63% (1.9/6), CBS with two hours of "60 Minutes" and a Country Music special by 158% (1.2/4) and NBC with the 2-hour season ender of "Celebrity Apprentice" by 210% (1.0/3). "The Billboard Music Awards" stood as the night's highest-rated TV show with young adults. ABC was also the most-watched TV network overall on the evening, leading runner-up CBS by 1.2 million viewers (8.8 million vs. 7.6 million).
· Excluding only the night of the "Academy Awards," ABC marked its most-watched Sunday since November (since 11/18/12) and posted a season high with Adults 18-49.
"America's Funniest Home Videos" (7:00-8:00 p.m.)
Surging week to week in viewers (+8% - 6.8 million vs. 6.3 million) and young adults (+21% - 1.7/6 vs. 1.4/5), ABC's season finale of "America's Funniest Home Videos" drew its biggest audience in 13 weeks and tied its best Adult 18-49 number in 14 weeks - since 2/17/13 and 2/10/13, respectively.
· "AFHV" grew over last season's finale (5.9 million and 1.5/5 on 5/20/12) by 15% in viewers and by 13% in young adults to its top season ender in 3 years - since 05/16/10.
"The 2013 Billboard Music Awards" (8:00-11:00 p.m.)
ABC's 3-hour broadcast of "The 2013 Billboard Music Awards" posted an across-the-board victory, winning its 8:00-11:00 p.m. time period with Total Viewers, all key Adults (AD18-34/AD18-49/AD25-54), Teens 12-17 and Kids 2-11.
· "The Billboard Music Awards" was Sunday's No. 1 most social program with 4,358,169 tweets, shooting up 182% year to year (vs. 1,545,775 tweets on 5/20/12).
· Spiking year to year in Total Viewers (+28% - 9.5 million vs. 7.4 million) and Adults 18-49 (+30% - 3.5/10 vs. 2.7/7), "The Billboard Music Awards" delivered its biggest numbers in 10 years - since 2003.
Source: The Nielsen Company (National, Live+ Same Day Program Ratings), week of 05/13/13.
ABC Ranks No. 1 for the 2013 May Sweep Among Adults 18-49 and Key Women
ABC's Dramas Dominate in May with 8 of the Top 10 Telecasts in Adults 18-49
The Net Airs 3 of May's Top 10 TV Shows in Adults 18-49,
Including the No. 1 10 O'clock Series with "Scandal"
ABC is the No. 1 Network in May on Monday-Friday from 10-11pm in Key Adults
2013 May Sweep (4/25-5/20/13 - 26 of 28 Nights - Live + Same Day)
With just two nights left to count heading into tonight's season finale of "Dancing" and the closers for its Wednesday lineup on the final night of the period, ABC ranks No. 1 for the 2013 May Sweep in Adults 18-49 (1.8/5), tied with CBS, while leading NBC and Fox by 6% each (NBC and Fox = 1.7/5). ABC is also the leader for the month in Women 18-34 (1.7/6) and Women 18-49 (2.3/7).
· ABC Dramas Dominate the May Sweep: With Thursday's combo of "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scandal," ABC delivered 8 of the Top 10 drama telecasts during the May Sweep in Adults 18-49: "Scandal-5/16" - No. 2, "Scandal-5/9" - No. 3, "Grey's-5/9" and "Grey's-5/16" tied at No. 4, "Grey's-5/2" - No. 8, "Scandal-4/25" - No. 9 and "Grey's-4/25" - No. 10. Dominating at 10:00 p.m., the Net aired each of the Top 7 highest rated 10 o'clock drama telecasts for the month in Adults 18-49, with "Scandal" claiming the Top 4 positions and "Castle" claiming the next 3 positions.
· Highest-Rated Series of the Month: ABC claims 3 of the Top 10 TV shows during May in Adults 18-49 with "Modern Family" (No. 4), "Grey's Anatomy" (No. 8) and "Scandal" (No. 9). In fact "Scandal" is the month's No. 1 10 o'clock series in Adults 18-49. ABC's "DWTS" is the most-watched unscripted series overall, outdrawing both installments of Fox's "American Idol" and NBC's "The Voice."
· ABC is the Only Net to Improve its Local News Lead-in Audience and Ranks No. 1 in Key Adults: ABC is the only net to grow its overall audience year to year from 10:00-11:00 p.m. on Monday-Friday as a lead-in to affiliates' late-local news, gaining 7% over last May's average (7.5 million vs. 7.0 million). CBS and NBC are both down in the hour year to year. In addition, ABC was the No. 1 network during the month on Monday-Friday from 10:00-11:00 p.m. in Adults 18-49 (1.9/6) and Adults 25-54 (2.5/6), beating CBS (1.7/5 and 2.4/6) and NBC (1.5/4 and 1.9/5).
Source: The Nielsen Company, National Live + Same Day Program Ratings (4/25-5/20/13), unless stated otherwise.
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