ABC finished #2 on Thursday in Adults 18-49 for the 2nd week in a row, as Scandal and Grey’s ranked as the night’s Top 2 dramas for the 3rd week running. Posting a new series high, Scandal is on track to finish as TV’s #1 drama for the 2nd time in 3 weeks and delivered the highest rating for any regular 10 o’clock drama telecast on any network in 7 months – since 10/15/12. In addition, Scandal outdelivered American Idol for the first time ever in Adults 18-49, and Grey’s topped Idol for the 2nd consecutive week. ABC was up year to year on Thursday for the 2nd week in a row in Adults 18-49 (+9%). In addition the Net built to its top-rated Thursday in 7 weeks – since 3/21/13.
At 8pm, ABC’s Wipeout season premiere improved its slot by 9% week to week in Adults 18-49. The ABC unscripted series was up from last season’s finale in Total Viewers (+10%) and held even in Adults 18-49.
Gaining sharply on its Adult 18-49 lead-in (+142%) at 9pm, ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy was the #1 series in its hour for its 6th consecutive first-run airing, beating CBS’ season finale of Person of Interest by 21%, NBC’s The Office by 26% and Fox’s Idol-driven finale of Glee by 38%. Despite facing season finale competition, Grey’s held even with its week-ago Adult 18-49 Fast Affiliate Rating.
Building on its Grey’s lead-in by a best-yet 10%, ABC’s Scandal hit an all-time high in Adults 18-49, spiking 23% week to week and surpassing its previous high by 14%. The ABC sophomore drama won the 10 o’clock hour by wide margins in Adults 18-49, outdelivering CBS’ Elementary by a best-ever 78% and nearly tripled the delivery of NBC’s Hannibal (+191%), finishing as the #1 TV series in its slot on each of its last 15 first-run broadcasts. Continuing to post big year-to-year gains, Scandal shot up 68% in Adults 18-49 from its telecast on the same night last year. In addition to delivering TV’s best Adult 18-49 number for any regular 10 o’clock drama telecast in 7 months, Scandal earned the top rating for any ABC 10pm drama since September 2011.
Scandal Social Activity: The ABC sophomore drama was Thursday’s #1 most social series during primetime, with a 40% advantage over #2 American Idol in number of tweets. ABC’s most social show this season with 3.7 million total tweets, Scandal’s social activity rose 8% over last week to its 2nd-highest-ever levels for any episode of the show.
