Despite facing a number of local-market preemptions on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, ABC stood as the 2nd-most-watched television network during the week of 8/8/11. ABC’s CMA Music Festival and Bachelor Pad both finished among the week’s Top 15 most-watched TV shows.
In fact, the CMA Music Festival shot up year to year by 1.0 million viewers to pull in its 2nd-largest audience in 6 years, and Bachelor Pad opened its second season at series-high numbers. ABC grew over the same week last year by 9% in Total Viewers, qualifying as the only broadcaster to build its numbers year over year.
Monday: With Bachelor Pad opening its second season at series-highs, ABC finished as the most-watched network on Monday night for the 5th week in a row, leading runner-up Fox by 1.0 million viewers.
In fact, ABC has been Monday’s most-watched net on 21 of the past 22 weeks. In addition, ABC dominated the night across all key Women demos (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54). ABC was up over the same night last year (8/9/10), also a night of all-original programming, by 23% in Total Viewers and by 10% in Adults 18-49. Leading its 3-hour time period from 8-11pm, ABC’s 2nd-season premiere of Bachelor Pad emerged as the most-watched TV show overall on Monday night, as well as the #1 program across all key Women demos.
The ABC unscripted series ranked #1 in 5 of 6 half-hours of the evening with viewers and in 4 of 6 half-hours among young adults. Building on its year-ago series debut by 9%, Bachelor Pad attracted the series’ largest audience ever. Bachelor Pad also achieved series-highs across all key Adults (A18-34/A18-49/A25-54) and Women (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54) demos.
Tuesday: At 8pm, ABC’s Wipeout ranked second with Adults 18-49, matching the Net’s best performance in the Tuesday time slot this summer. In addition, Wipeout equaled a summer high in Tuesday’s 8 o’clock hour in Adults 18-34.
In fact, Wipeout tied its 2nd-highest numbers for an original telecast on any night this summer to date in both Adult demos. The ABC unscripted series dominated its unscripted time period competition on NBC (It’s Worth What?) by 1.8 million Total Viewers and by 82% in young adults. Wipeout finished as the #1 broadcast program in the hour with Teens 12-17 and Kids 2-11 for the 2nd week in a row. Against the opening hour of NBC’s America’s Got Talent from 9-10pm, ABC’s Take the Money & Run retained a strong 95% of its week-earlier debut in Adults 18-49, while holding 100% in Adults 18-34.
In addition, the new ABC series grew week to week by 6% in Men 18-49 and by 11% in Men 25-54 to produce ABC’s highest numbers in the time slot in 7 weeks – since 6/21/11. Take the Money & Run built on its lead-in by 15% in Men 18-34, marking the show’s 2nd straight week of lead-in gains. Take the Money & Run boosted the 9 o’clock hour for ABC year to year by a substantial 31% in Total Viewers and by 29% in Adults 18-49, topping the year-ago night with original programming (Shaq Vs. on 8/10/10).
Wednesday: With 4 comedy repeats and the ABC special Primetime Nightline: Celebrity Secrets, ABC was up year to year for the 3rd consecutive Wednesday in Adults 18-49, growing over the year-ago evening (8/11/10) by 9% in the key adult demo.
ABC’s replay Modern Family produced its most-watched repeat at 8:30pm this summer, generating the Net’s largest audience in the half-hour in 10 weeks – since 6/1/11. ABC’s repeat Modern Family defeated CBS’ replay Criminal Minds by 23% in Adults 18-49 to qualify as Wednesday’s #1 scripted show on the broadcast nets in young adults. At 9pm, Modern Family produced its most-watched repeat telecast and matched its highest young adult rating in over 2 months – since 6/1/11.
In addition, the ABC sophomore comedy was up over its year-ago rebroadcast by 23% in viewers and by 23% in young adults. ABC’s Primetime Nightline: Celebrity Secrets improved on the previous week’s performance in the 10 o’clock hour (Primetime Nightline: Beyond Belief) by 13% in Women 18-49 and by 5% in Women 25-54 to mark ABC’s best numbers in the hour since early July – since 7/6/11.
In addition, the ABC newsmagazine ranked #1 in the hour in both key Women demos. Primetime Nightline: Celebrity Secrets grew over its most-recent airing in the hour two weeks ago (Primetime Nightline: Celebrity Secrets – Hollywood Moms on 7/27/11) by 20% in Total Viewers, by 30% in Adults 18-49, by 31% in Adults 25-54 and across key Women.
Friday: Up against Fox’s NFL Preseason Game (Tamp Bay-Kansas City), the series premiere of ABC’s Karaoke Battle USA grew from its lead-in at 9pm among Total Viewers (+2%), Women 18-49 (+9%), Teens 12-17 (+60%) and Kids 2-11 (+50%). In addition, the new ABC unscripted series saw its audience build from its first hour to its second hour in both Total Viewers (+2%) and Adults 18-49 (+11%).
Saturday: With the rebroadcast of Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix from 8-11pm, ABC ran as the #1 network on Saturday night in Adults 18-49 for the 2nd week in a row, beating Fox by 13%, CBS by 29% and NBC by 50%. The Net also qualified as the night’s top-rated broadcaster in Teens 12-17 and Kids 2-11 for the 4th straight week. Growing over the prior week’s movie (Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire) by 11% in Total Viewers and by 13% in Adults 18-49, Harry Potter & Order of the Phoenix marked ABC’s best Saturday Night Movie in 3 weeks – since 7/23/11.
Sunday: Opposite mostly original competition during its 8-11pm broadcast on CBS (Big Brother/Same Name), NBC (Minute to Win It/season finale of Marriage Ref) and Fox (series debut of In the Flow with Affion Crockett), ABC’s CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night To Rock more than tripled its lead-in (+218% in Total Viewers/+240% in Adults 18-49) to draw an average audience of 7.0 million viewers and finish as the most-watched program in its 3-hour time period.
ABC’s CMA Music Festival jumped over last year’s telecast (on Wednesday, 9/1/10) by 1 million viewers (+17%), drawing its 2nd-largest audience in 6 years – since 2005. The broad appealing show was also up year over year with Men 18-49 (+8%), Men 25-54 (+19%), Adults 25-54 (+10%), Teens 12-17 (+29%) and Kids 2-11 (+50% – a 7-year high). The CMA Music Festival generated ABC’s biggest summertime numbers in the time period with entertainment programming in nearly 5 years with Total Viewers, and in more than 3 years with Adults 18-49 – since 8/27/06 and 7/6/08, respectively.
WEEK NO. 47: ADULTS 18-49 TOTAL VIEWERS
No.1 FOX 1.8 No.1 CBS 6,310,000
No.2 CBS 1.4 No.2 ABC 4,710,000
No.3 ABC 1.3 No.3 FOX 4,680,000
No.4 NBC 1.2 No.4 NBC 4,610,000
No.5 CW 0.3 No.5 CW 770,000
(Source: ABC – The Nielsen Company (National, Live+ Same Day Program Ratings), week of 8/8/11, unless stated otherwise)
