ABC ‘DWTS’ registers win, “Castle” dominates ‘Jay Leno

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Generating its Most-Watched Monday in Over 6 Months, ABC Finishes No. 1 on the Night in Viewers for the 5th Time in 6 Weeks


Drawing its Biggest Audience this Season, “DWTS” Registers as Monday’s Most-Watched TV Series Telecast for the 9th Week in a Row

Continuing to Dominate NBC’s “Leno” in the 10pm Hour, ABC’s “Castle” Hits Season Highs with its Most-Watched Broadcast in More than 8 Months

Monday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)
For the 5th time in the last 6 weeks, ABC finished as the Monday’s most-watched network (16.1 million), outdrawing CBS by 4.3 million viewers (11.8 million), Fox by 5.7 million viewers (10.4 million) and NBC by 11.2 million viewers (4.9 million). 

Building for the 2nd straight week and surging week-to-week by 1.0 million viewers (16.1 million vs. 15.1 million) and by 10% in Adults 18-49 (3.4/9 vs. 3.1/8), ABC tallied a season-high with Total Viewers and posted a best-since premiere young adult number.  In fact the Net generated its most-watched Monday in more than 6 months – since 5/4/09. 

“Dancing with the Stars” (8:00-10:00 p.m.)
Garnering a season-high, ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” registered as Monday’s No. 1 telecast in Total Viewers (18.7 million), standing as TV’s most-watched series program on Monday for the 9th week running this season. The ABC dance competition built its audience from its first hour to its second hour in both Total Viewers (18.1 million to 19.4 million) and Adults 18-49 (3.7/9 to 4.1/10). In fact among Adults 18-49 in the 9 o’clock hour, “Dancing with the Stars” towered over original dramas on Fox (+41% – 2.9/7 with “Lie to Me”) and NBC (+128% – 1.8/4 with “Trauma”).  

“DWTS” won its 2-hour time period for the 8th consecutive week among Women 18-49 (5.5/13) and Women 25-54 (7.4/16), qualifying as the night’s No. 1 show on both counts.

“Dancing” produced its most-watched telecast this season (18.7 million) and posted a best-since-premiere number among Adults 18-49 (3.9/10).

“Castle” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
Hitting season-highs in viewers and young adults, ABC’s “Castle” overshadowed NBC’s “Jay Leno” in the 10 o’clock hour in Total Viewers (best-ever margin of +6.4 million viewers – 10.9 million vs. 4.5 million) and Adults 18-49 (+86% – 2.6/7 vs. 1.4/4).   In fact “Castle” generated its biggest audience in over 8 months (since 3/16/09) and the series’ 3rd-most-watched telecast ever.   

One of TV’s biggest gainers in the 10 o’clock hour this season, ABC’s “Castle” is generating substantial increases over its first-reported numbers through DVR playback, picking up an average 1.7 million viewers and an additional 6-tenths of an Adult 18-49 rating point (+26%) from the initially reported Live + Same Day Numbers to the Live + 7 Day DVR finals.     

On average, “Castle” is greatly improving the time period year to year for ABC, growing its hour over the same nights last year with “Boston Legal” in both Total Viewers (+1.7 million – 10.8 million vs. 9.1 million) and Adults 18-49 (+17% – 2.8/7 vs. 2.4/6). 

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 33% currently, from 28% 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: data and information provided by ABC. –  Nielsen Media Research (Fast Affiliate, Live + Same Day Ratings), 11/16/09.   DVR Playback = 9/21-11/1/09)