ABC Exhibits Impressive Year-Over-Year Audience Retention During Fall 2011
Posting Across-the-Board Increases, ABC is the Only Network to
Show Year-to-Year Improvement in the Monday-Friday 10 O'clock Hour
ABC Marks Big Year-Over-Year Gains with Key Returning Series and New Series
In Adults 18-49, the Net Airs the Fall's No. 1 Scripted Series in "Modern Family,"
The No. 1 Drama in "Grey's" and the No. 1 New Drama in "Once Upon a Time"
ABC is No. 1 with High-Income Young Adults, Airing 6 of the Top 15 Series
ABC is Home to the Top 4 TV Shows on the Major Nets for "Family Coviewing"
ABC Series Rank Among the Most Popularly Recorded and Played Back
Primetime: Fall 2011 (September Launch-November - 9/19/11-11/27/11)
During fall 2011, based on all programming (10 complete weeks), ABC finished as the No. 2 network in Total Viewers and across all key Women: W18-34, W18-49 and W25-54. Excluding sports, ABC ran No. 2 in Total Viewers, Adults 18-34 and Adults 25-54, while ranking No. 1 across all key Women (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54). Among Adults 18-49, ABC led an NFL-inflated NBC by 8%, and excluding sports, overpowered NBC by 67%.
· ABC Demonstrates Impressive Audience Retention Year to Year: On average, ABC grew its overall audience during the fall (9.99 million vs. 9.95 million), while retaining 100% of its year-ago delivery with Adults 18-49 (2.8/8). The Net was also up for the fall with Adults 25-54 (+3%) and Teens 12-17 (+8%). Looking across its schedule, ABC posted increases in 57% of its half-hours in Total Viewers, and was up in 45% of its half-hours in Adults 18-49.
· ABC is the Only Net Up in the 10 O'clock Hour, Posting Substantial Fall-to-Fall Gains: On Monday-Friday from 10:00-11:00 p.m. as a lead-in to affiliates' late-local news, ABC delivered double-digit year-to-year improvement in Total Viewers (+13%), Adults 18-49 (+12%) and Adults 25-54 (+12%). In fact, ABC was the only net to post gains on any of the three Nielsen measures.
· ABC's Posts Gains Over Last Fall with a Number of Returning and New Shows: Running as some of the fastest-growing returning TV shows for the season, ABC's "The Middle" (+10%/+17%) and "Modern Family" (+14%/+21%) were up nicely. The Net's key new programs improved their time slots by wide margins for ABC year to year: "Last Man Standing" (+39%/+46%), "Body of Proof" (+27%/+14%), "Suburgatory" (+33%/+44%), "Revenge" (+89%/+140%) and "Once Upon a Time" (+66%/+114%). In addition, ABC's "Castle" grew its overall audience by 8% over last fall.
· ABC's Wednesday Night Comedy Block Grows for the 2nd Straight Fall: For the 2nd year in a row, ABC's Wednesday 8:00-10:00 p.m. comedy block scored double-digit percentage gains year over year with Total Viewers (+12%) and Adults 18-49 (+18%). ABC's Wednesday 2-hour comedy block towered over NBC's 8:00-10:00 p.m. Thursday comedy block (+6.0 million viewers and +64% in Adults 18-49).
· ABC Claims 4 of the Fall's Top 10 New Series, Including the Top 2 New Drama: ABC aired 4 of the Top 10 new shows for the fall in Adults 18-49, including the Top 2 new dramas: "Once Upon a Time" - No. 3 (No. 1 new drama), "Suburgatory" and "Revenge" (No. 2 new drama) tied at No. 6 and "Last Man Standing" - No. 9. In addition among Total Viewers, ABC's "Last Man Standing" qualified as TV's No. 2 most-watched new comedy overall, behind only CBS' "2 Broke Girls," and the No. 1 Tuesday comedy, with a 1.2 million viewer advantage over Fox's "New Girl."
· Fall's Highest-Rated TV Series: ABC delivered 8 of the Top 30 TV shows on the broadcast nets this fall with Adults 18-49, including the No. 1 comedy with "Modern Family" and the No. 1 drama with "Grey's:" "Modern Family" - No. 2 (No. 1 comedy/scripted series), "Grey's Anatomy" - No. 6 (No. 1 drama), "Once Upon a Time" - No. 12, "Desperate Housewives" - No. 23, "Happy Endings" - No. 26, while "DWTS," "Suburgatory" and "Revenge" tied at No. 28. The Net broadcasts 3 of the Top 10 most-watched TV shows overall and the No. 1 unscripted series: "DWTS" - No. 4 (No. 1 unscripted series), "Modern Family" - No. 7 and "DWTS: The Results" - No. 8.
· ABC is a Strong Draw with Upscale Young Adults: Among Adults 18-49 in homes with $100K+ Annual Income in the non-sports numbers, ABC (3.60 rating) ranked No. 1 for the fall, leading CBS by 9% (3.29), Fox by 14% (3.16) and NBC by 63% (2.21). ABC claimed 6 of the Top 15 highest-rated regular TV shows among high-income young adults (most for any network), including the No. 1 series overall, the No. 1 drama overall and the Top 2 new dramas: "Modern Family" (13.62 rating) - No. 1, "Grey's Anatomy" (6.79) - No. 7 (No. 1 drama), "Happy Endings" (5.46) - No. 10, "Revenge" (5.19) - No. 11 (No. 1 new drama), "Once Upon a Time" (4.90) - No. 13 (No. 2 new drama) and "Suburgatory" (4.86) - No. 15. Reporting an annual median income of $83,000 for its young adult audience, ABC's "Modern Family" drew the highest median income among any broadcast series this season.
· ABC is Home to the Top Broadcast Programs for Family Coviewing: Led by "America's Funniest Home Videos," ABC was home to 7 of the Top 15 programs on the major networks during the fall in Family Coviewing, including the Top 4 shows. In addition to broadcasting the No. 1 show overall with "AFV," the Net claimed the No. 1 drama with "Once Upon a Time" and the Top 2 live-action comedies with "The Middle" and "Suburgatory." Season-to-date Family Coviewing Rankings (Percentage of Adults 18-49 watching with Teens 12-17 or Kids 2-11 present): "America's Funniest Home Videos" (27%) - No. 1, "The Middle" (20%) - No. 2, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (19%) and "You Deserve It" (19%) tied at No. 3, "Once Upon a Time" (18%) - No. 7, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition-9P" (17%) - No. 9 and "Suburgatory" (16%) - No. 12.
· ABC Series Among Most Popularly Recorded and Played Back: On average during primetime, ABC's numbers grew from the originally reported Live + Same Day averages to the finalized Live + 7 Day ratings by 1.3 million viewers (8.9 million to 10.2 million) and by 21% in Adults 18-49 (2.4/6 to 2.9/8). ABC series remain among the most popularly recorded and played back TV shows. "Modern Family" and "Grey's Anatomy" were the Top 2 biggest gainers among Adults 18-49, picking up 2.4 rating points and 1.6 rating points, respectively. With a significant rise in DVR penetration year to year (38% to 43%), a total of 8 of ABC's series added more than 2.0 million viewers from their initially reported totals via time-shifted viewing, including the biggest overall gainer with "Modern Family": "Modern Family" (+4.66 million), "Grey's" (+3.18 million), "Castle" (+2.96 million), "Body of Proof" (+2.69 million), "Once Upon a Time" (+2.52 million), "Revenge" (+2.48 million), "Private Practice" (+2.25 million) and "Desperate Housewives" (+2.06 million). Among Adults 18-49, 6 of ABC's series registered substantial ratings increases of 1.0 rating point or more: "Modern Family" (+2.4 rating - top gainer overall), "Grey's" (+1.6 rating - biggest drama gainer), "Once Upon a Time" (+1.1 rating), "Private Practice" (+1.1 rating), "Revenge" (+1.0 rating) and "Desperate Housewives" (+1.0 rating).
Source: The Nielsen Company, (National Most Current Program Ratings), 9/19/11-11/27/11, or as dated. Upscale data based on regular non-sports programming (9/19/11-11/27/11). Coviewing data based on all programming (9/19/11-11/27/11). DVR Playback based on regular original telecasts only, 9/19/11-11/13/11.
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