Overall: ABC finished as the 2nd-most-watched network overall during the opening week of the 2012-13 TV Season (w/o 9/24/12), outdrawing an NFL-fueled NBC and Fox with a huge Sunday football overrun. In fact excluding NFL coverage from the Adult 18-49 weekly averages, ABC outdelivered NBC by 10% with young adults. The Net ranked #1 during premiere week with Women 18-49. ABC claimed 5 of the Top 20 TV shows during premiere week in Adults 18-49, placing 3 in the Top 10 and delivering the #1 scripted show in Modern Family, the #1 drama in Grey’s Anatomy and the #1 new comedy in The Neighbors. ABC’s DWTS: All Stars stood as TV’s most-watched unscripted show overall. Between Modern Family and Grey’s, the Net aired the Top 2 TV shows across all key Women (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54). In fact, ABC claimed each of the Top 3 shows in Women 18-34, with Grey’s, Modern Family and Once Upon a Time. ABC hit its most-watched non-Oscar week in more than 10 months – since w/o 11/21/11.
Monday: Despite facing NBC’s The Voice for the first time ever on the opening night of a TV season, ABC finished as the top broadcaster on season premiere Monday with the openers of DWTS: All-Stars and Castle, outdrawing NBC by 1.7 million viewers (The Voice/Revolution), CBS by 4.5 million viewers (HIMYM/Partners/2 Broke Girl/Mike & Molly/Hawaii Five-0) and Fox by 7.2 million viewers (Bones/The Mob Doctor). In fact, it was ABC’s 5th time in the last 6 years to open as the most-watched broadcaster on the first Monday of the season. In addition, ABC beat out Fox’s prime by 33%. In Adults 18-49, ABC equaled its highest rated Monday in 4 months – since 5/21/12. Building its audience from its first hour to its second hour opposite stiff competition, the 15th season opener of Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars made ABC the most-watched net in its time slot, outdrawing NBC’s The Voice by 1.9 million viewers in head-to-head competition from 8-10pm. In addition, the ABC unscripted series beat out Fox’s dramas in the 2-hour time period by 39% in Adults 18-49. DWTS: All-Stars attracted ABC’s biggest audience and its top young adult number in the time period since May – since 5/14/12 and 5/21/12, respectively. TV’s most-watched series during the 10 o’clock hour, ABC’s 5th season opener of Castle outdrew NBC’s Revolution by 1.3 million viewers, while defeating CBS’ opener of Hawaii Five-0 by more than 2.4 million viewers and by double-digits in both Adults 18-49 (+17%) and Adults 25-54 (+16%).
Tuesday: With DWTS: All-Stars — The Results Show and Private Practice, ABC qualified as the 2nd-most-watched TV network on season premiere Tuesday to CBS (NCIS/NCIS: LA/Vegas). ABC outdrew NBC by 2.5 million viewers (The Voice/Go On/New Normal/Parenthood) and more than doubled Fox’s comedy premieres on the night (+104% ahead of New Girl/Ben and Kate/New Girl/The Mindy Project). Gaining audience during each half-hour of its 2-hour telecast opposite big competition, ABC’s DWTS: All-Stars — The Results Show finished #2 among Viewers in its 8-10pm time period, outdrawing by wide margins both NBC (+34%) and Fox (+141%). Building throughout its broadcast, The Results Show ranked #2 in its final half-hour (9:30-10pm) in Total Viewers, Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54. Actress Pamela Anderson was the first celebrity dancer to be eliminated from the competition this season. During the 10 o’clock hour, ABC’s 6th season premiere of Private Practice beat out NBC’s Parenthood by 1.6 million viewers, by 6% in Adults 18-49 and by 9% in Adults 25-54. The ABC drama ranked #1 in the hour with Women 18 18-49. ABC’s Private Practice was up over its April premiere in its Tuesday time period across all key Adults: A18-34 (+9%), A18-49 (+12%) and A25-54 (+4%). In addition, Private Practice topped its season finale in May (5/15/12) by 6% in Adults 18-49 and by 20% in Adults 18-34.
Wednesday: With season openers of The Middle, Modern Family and the debut of The Neighbors, ABC ranked #1 from 8-10pm in Adults 18-49 on season premiere Wednesday, beating out runner-up Fox’s primetime lineup (2-hour The X Factor) by 6%. Please Note: From 10-11pm., ABC aired a re-cap clip-show for Revenge, ahead of its sophomore season premiere this coming Sunday at 9pm, on its new night and time. In addition, The Neighbors will move into its regular Wednesday 8:30pm time period next week. Opposite the opening hour of The X Factor and CBS’ Survivor: Philippines from 8-9pm, ABC’s 4th season 1-hour premiere of The Middle dominated its NBC comedy competition, beating time-period comedy premieres (Animal Practice/Guys with Kids) by 84% in Total Viewers and by 93% in Adults 18-49. In fact, The Middle drew a bigger overall audience than the first hour of The X Factor. Surging over its season finale in May (5/23/12) with viewers (+42%) and young adults (+45%), The Middle scored its best numbers since January – since 1/11/12. Shooting to the top of its 9pm slot to dominate the third half-hour of Fox’s The X Factor and the season opener of CBS’ Criminal Minds, ABC’s Emmy-Award winning Modern Family opened its 4th season as Wednesday’s definitive #1 TV show in viewers and young adults. Up sharply from its season closer with viewers (+43%) and young adults (+34%), Modern Family marked the series’ 2nd-biggest audience ever for a regular telecast and its top young adult rating since the beginning of 2012 – since 1/4/12. In addition, the ABC family comedy equaled its best-ever number with Kids 2-11. The new season’s #1 series in Adults 18-49, ABC’s Modern Family delivered TV’s highest-rated comedy telecast in more than 7 months – since 2/9/12. Against the final half-hour of The X Factor in the 9:30pm slot, ABC’s series debut of The Neighbors finished a strong second in its slot among Adults 18-49, beating the second half-hour of Criminal Minds by 7%. ABC’s The Neighbors stands as premiere week’s #1 new comedy in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, pacing well ahead of CBS’ Monday debut of Partners and Fox’s Tuesday debuts of Ben and Kate and Mindy Project. In fact, it’s the 2nd-highest new comedy debut this fall with young adults, just 2-tenth shy of NBC’s Go On, which had the advantage of opening against much weaker competition prior to premiere week. The Neighbors was up from the year-ago season opener of Happy Endings (9/28/11) in the slot by viewers (+1.9 million) and Adults 18-49 (+3%). The freshman show produced ABC’s biggest audience in the time slot with comedy programming in 1 year – since the year-ago opener of Modern Family on 9/21/11.
Thursday: During the 8 o’clock hour against Fox’s The X Factor and CBS’ top-rated comedy premieres (The Big Bang Theory/Two and a Half Men), the series debut of ABC’s Last Resort outdelivered its NBC competition (SNL Primetime Election/Up All Night) by 5.3 million viewers and by 47% in Adults 18-49. In addition, the new ABC drama attracted nearly as large an audience as The X Factor, pacing within less than 100k Total Viewers. Opposite strong competition, Last Resort built by 9% in viewers and by 14% in Adults 18-49 from its first half-hour to its second half-hour. Topping year-ago debut of Charlie’s Angels in Adults 18-49 (+5%), Last Resort stood as ABC’s biggest Thursday drama debut in 3 years with young adults – since 9/24/09. Additionally, the new series scored ABC’s highest Adult 18-49 rating in the hour in more than 8 months – since 1/12/12. Doubling its lead-in at 9pm in Adults 18-49 (+100%), ABC’s 9th season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy led its competition by wide margins and finished as Thursday’s definitive #1 drama. During the 9 o’clock hour, ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy outdelivered CBS’ Person of Interest by 52%, Fox’s Glee by 83% and NBC’s comedies by 132% (The Office/Parks and Recreation). Additionally, Grey’s stood as Thursday’s top-rated TV program with Adults 18-34. Rising over its year-ago season opener in viewers (+13%) and young adults (+7%), Grey’s tallied its 2nd-highest numbers since March 2011 – since 3/31/11. During the 10 o’clock hour, ABC’s sophomore season premiere of Scandal ranked #1 in its slot with Women 18-34. ABC’s Scandal grew over its freshman season premiere (4/5/12) across all key Adults: AD18-34 (+23%), AD18-49 (+5%) and AD25-54 (+4%). In fact, the ABC drama hit its 2nd-best-ever numbers on all 3 Nielsen measures.
Friday: Featuring Shark Tank, a rebroadcast of the pilot for Last Resort from Thursday and 20/20, ABC tied CBS’ all-original Friday premiere line up (CSI: NY/Made in Jersey/Blue Bloods) in Adults 18-49, while beating NBC with the season premiere of Grimm and Dateline by 8% and Fox with the premiere of Fringe by 18%. ABC’s Shark Tank ranked #1 in the 8 o’clock hour for the 3rd week in a row among its broadcast rivals in Adults 18-49, beating the season premiere of CBS’ CSI: NY by 15%. Gaining additional sampling one night after its series debut, a repeat of the pilot episode for Last Resort beat out Fox’s season premiere of Fringe by 26% in viewers. In addition, among Adults 18-49, the replay ABC freshman drama equaled the series debut of CBS’ Made in Jersey and also tied the opener of Fox’s Fringe in the key young adult sales demo. Building on its lead-in during the 10 o’clock hour, ABC’s 20/20 continued to trend ahead of last year, up across the board from the same night a year ago: Total Viewers (+3%), AD18-49 (+8%) and AD25-54 (+13%).
Sunday: With a series re-cap of Once Upon a Time, leading into its sophomore season premiere, followed by the sophomore opener of Revenge and the debut of 666 Park Avenue, up against NBC’s Sunday Night Football and an NFL-overrun boosted Fox, ABC beat out CBS’ season premiere Sunday by 40% in Adults 18-49. ABC’s sophomore season opener of Once Upon a Time stood as the night’s #1 scripted program in Adults 18-49. Despite airing a clip show in the 7pm hour, ABC grew by double digits over season-premiere Sunday last year in Adults 18-49 (+12%). More than doubling its lead-in (+105%), ABC’s season opener of Once Upon a Time dominated its non-sports competition in the 8 o’clock hour in Adults 18-49 to emerge as Sunday’s top-rated non-sports show. In its time period, ABC’s Once Upon a Time defeated Fox’s NFL-driven animated comedy premieres (The Simpsons/Bob’s Burgers) by 22% and CBS’ season premiere of The Amazing Race by 56%. The Disney-owned drama ranked as the #1 TV program of the night with Women 18-34. Once Upon a Time paced well ahead of its freshman season finale in May, pulling in its biggest audience since November (11/13/11) and equaling its 2nd-best-ever Adult 18-49 number. In addition the show hit series highs with Adults 18-34 and Women 18-34, while marking its 2nd-highest-ever rating with Teens 12-17. Leading its entertainment competition in its new Sunday 9 o’clock time slot among Adults 18-49, ABC’s sophomore season premiere of Revenge topped Fox’s animated comedy openers (Family Guy/American Dad) by 10% and impressively beat out the season opener of CBS’ time-period established The Good Wife by 78%. Up sharply from its first season closer on Wednesday in May, Revenge scored the series’ 2nd-highest ratings ever in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, while earning new series highs with Adults 18-34 and Women 18-34. Ranking as the #1 non-sports program in the 10pm hour, ABC’s series debut of 666 Park Avenue defeated CBS’ premiere of The Mentalist by 25% in Adults 18-34 and equaled the CBS veteran drama in Adults 18-49. 666 Park Avenue improved on ABC’s 2011-12 season averages with drama programming in the time period by 23% in Total Viewers and by 17% in Adults 18-49. In fact among Adults 18-49 the new show posted the Net’s best performance with a Sunday 10 o’clock series since March – since 3/11/12.
(source: ABC)
