Primetime Ratings Report
For the week of February 23, 2009
(Based on National Live + Same Day Program Ratings)
Finishing No. 2 to Fox, ABC Claims 4 of the Week's Top 15 Shows in Adults
18-49, with "Lost," "Brothers & Sisters," "The Bachelor" and "Home Edition"
"The Bachelor: The Women Tell All" Jumps Sharply Over its Most-Recent Edition, the Most-Watched "Tell All" in Over 5 Years and Highest in Adults 18-49 in Over 3 Years
"True Beauty" Season Finale Wins its Hour in Adults 18-49, Matches a Series High And Improves ABC's Monday 10pm Hour by 48% Over the Same Weeks Last Year
Tuesday at 8pm, ABC's "Homeland Security USA" Hits Best-Since-Debut Numbers
ABC Ranks No. 2 to an "Idol"-Filled Fox in Young Adults on Wednesday, Up Over
The Year-Ago Night by 17% with its 4th Straight Week of Year-to-Year Growth
Up from its Performance 2 Weeks Ago Opposite "American Idol," "Lost"
Is TV's No. 1 Scripted Show in Adults 18-49 for the 6th Straight Wednesday
"Grey's Anatomy" Generates its Top Repeat Numbers in More than 1 Year
For the 9th Straight Week, ABC News' "20/20" Beats NBC News' "Dateline"
During Friday's 10 O'clock Hour Among Total Viewers and Adults 18-49
With Winning Numbers from the 2-Hour "Brothers & Sisters" Event,
ABC Ranks No. 1 on Sunday for the 3rd Straight Week with Adults 18-49
Marking in its Second-Highest Numbers of the Season, "America's Funniest
Home Videos" is the No. 1 Non-Sports Show Sunday at 7pm in Adults 18-49
Up from its Most Recent Original, "Home Edition" is the Most-Watched TV Show
In Sunday's 8pm Hour and Outruns CBS' "Amazing Race" by 17% in Adults 18-49
ABC's "Brothers & Sisters" Produces Strongest-Since-Season-Premiere Results
WEEK No. 23:
ABC finished No. 2 to Fox for the week of February 23, 2009, in Adults 18-49 (2.5/7-tie) and Adults 18-34 (2.0/6).
Rankings: The Network aired 4 of the week's Top 15 TV programs in Adults 18-49: "Lost" � No. 4, "Brothers & Sisters" � No. 7, "The Bachelor" � No. 12 and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" � No. 15. In addition, ABC claimed 3 of the Top 6 shows for the week in Women 18-34: "The Bachelor" � No. 4, "Brothers & Sisters" � No. 5 and "Lost" � No. 6. Please note that "Grey's Anatomy" was in repeat on Thursday and "Desperate Housewives" was pre-empted on Sunday for the 2-hour "Brothers & Sisters."
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 30% currently, from 23% 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.
Monday
ABC's Monday lineup of "The Bachelor: The Women Tell All" and the season finale of "True Beauty" drew 9.8 million and a 3.6 rating, 9 share in Adults 18-49, taking second in both Nielsen measures. ABC won the night across each of the key Women demographics: Women 18-34 (5.2/13), Women 18-49 (5.4/13) and Women 25-54 (5.7/13). ABC has stood as the No. 1 Network on the night among Women 18-34 for 8 weeks running, while winning Monday evening among Women 18-49 for the 7th time in the last 8 weeks.
"The Bachelor: The Women Tell All" (8:00-10:00 p.m.)
ABC's "The Bachelor: The Women Tell All" saw significant increases over its most recent edition (5/5/08), up by 4.3 million viewers (10.9 million vs. 6.6 million) and by 61% in Adults 18-49 (3.7/9) vs. 2.3/6). In fact, it was the most-watched "Women Tell All" telecast in over 5 years and highest rated among Adults 18-49 in over 3 years � since 11/12/03 and 2/20/06, respectively. Additionally, it was the 3rd-most-watched "The Bachelor: The Women Tell All" in the history of "The Bachelor" franchise.
� "The Bachelor" won its 2-hour time period across all key Women demos for the 5th consecutive week: Women 18-34 (5.7/14), Women 18-49 (5.8/14) and Women 25-54 (6.1/13).
� Growing from its first hour to its second hour in Total Viewers (10.7 million to 11.2 million) and Adults 18-49 (3.4/9 to 4.0/10), "The Bachelor" won the 9 o'clock hour in the young adult demo, ranking No. 1 in the hour for the 5th consecutive week.
"True Beauty" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
The season finale of "True Beauty" took the Net to the No. 1 position among Adults 18-49 (3.2/9), matching a series high performance in the key young adult sales demo. In addition, the season ender led the hour with series high ratings across all key Women demos: Women 18-34 (4.3/12), Women 18-49 (4.7/12) and Women 25-54 (4.7/11). "True Beauty" led the Monday 10:00 p.m. hour in Adults 18-49 in 3 of its final 4 telecasts on the night, while leading the time slot among Women 18-34 on all 7 of its Monday airings.
� On average during its run, "True Beauty" delivered solid increases to the Monday 10 o'clock hour, up by 2.0 million viewers (7.2 million vs. 5.2 million) and by 48% in Adults 18-49 (3.1/8 vs. 2.1/5) compared to the comparable weeks last year (1/7 � 2/25/08). In addition, "True Beauty" ranked No. 1 in its Monday time-slot among Adults 18-34 (2.9/8), Women 18-34 (4.1/11) and Women 18-49 (4.4/10).
Tuesday
"Homeland Security USA" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
Building on the previous week's telecast by 1.4 million viewers and by 36% in young adults, ABC's "Homeland Security USA" posted best-since premiere numbers in Total Viewers (6.1 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.9/5) since its debut 7 weeks ago - since 1/06/08.
� "Homeland Security USA" improved the Net's performance in the hour on the same night last year by 1.5 million viewers and by 58% in Adults 18-49 (4.6 million & 1.2/3 on 2/26/08).
Wednesday
ABC ranked No. 2 to Fox on Wednesday night among young adults: Adults 18-49 (2.7/7-tied w/CBS) and Adults 18-34 (2.4/7). Opposite a 2-hour installment of "American Idol" on Fox, ABC (2.4/7) beat CBS by 50% (1.6/5) and NBC by 41% (1.7/5) among Adults 18-34.
� Although the Network faced stiffer demographic competition year to year from a 2-hour edition of Fox's "American Idol," compared to an "Idol"/"Back to You" combo on the year-ago night (2/27/08), ABC's Wednesday results were up from the same night last year by 5% in Total Viewers (6.8 million vs. 6.5 million) and by 17% in Adults 18-49 (2.7/7 vs. 2.3/6). In fact it was ABC's 4th straight week to register year-to-year young adult growth on the night, finishing up or even with the year-ago Wednesday for 6 weeks in a row.
"Lost" (9:00-10:06 p.m.)
Jumping from its lead-in by 159% and gaining young adult audience from start to finish against the second hour of Fox's expanded "Idol," self-starter "Lost" marked its 6th week in a row to emerge as Wednesday's No. 1 scripted TV show in Adults 18-49. Beating its original drama competition in the
9 o'clock hour by wide margins in Adults 18-49, ABC's "Lost" (4.4/11) topped CBS' "Criminal Minds" by 26% (3.5/8) and NBC's "Life" by 175% (1.6/4). The ABC drama was also the evening's highest-rated scripted show in the other two key Adult demos: Adults 18-34 (4.1/11) and Adults 25-54 (4.9/11).
� Compared to "Lost's" performance opposite Fox's expanded "Idol" two weeks ago (2/11/09), the fifth-year ABC drama was up in Total Viewers (+3% - 10.1 million vs. 9.8 million), Adults 25-54 (+7% - 4.9/11 vs. 4.6/10) and across each of the key Women demographics: W18-34 +2% (4.4/11 vs. 4.3/11), W18-49 +4% (4.7/11 vs. 4.5/10) and W25-54 +9% (5.1/11 vs. 4.7/10).
Thursday
"Grey's Anatomy" (9:00-10:02 p.m.)
ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" registered its strongest numbers in Total Viewers (6.8 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.2/6) for a repeat telecast in more than one year - since 1/17/08.
Friday
"Wife Swap" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
ABC's "Wife Swap" (4.5 million & 1.5/5 in Adults 18-49) beat both NBC's back-to-back episodes of "Howie Do It" (4.3 million & 1.3/4) and Fox's "Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles" (3.4 million & 1.2/4). In fact, it was the 1st time that the ABC unscripted series has beaten the Fox drama in the key young adult demo.
"Supernanny" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Building on its lead-in, ABC's "Supernanny" also took second in its time period in viewers (5.5 million) and young adults (1.8/6), defeating original dramas in the 9 o'clock hour, Fox's "Dollhouse" (4.2 million & 1.6/5) and NBC's "Friday Night Lights" (4.2 million & 1.5/5).
� "Supernanny" ranked No. 1 in its time slot across among Women 18-49 (2.6/8) and Women 25-54 (3.1/8) for the 3rd time in the last 4 weeks.
"20/20" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
ABC News' "20/20" placed second in the final hour of prime in Total Viewers (7.1 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.0/6), while ranking No. 1 among Women 18-49 (2.7/8) and Women 25-54 (3.5/9-tied). In fact, it was the 5th week in a row that the ABC newsmagazine has ranked No. 1 among Women 18-49.
� For the 9th week running, "20/20" outperformed its newsmagazine competition in the hour, NBC's "Dateline," in both Total Viewers (7.1 million vs. 5.8 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.0/6 vs. 1.5/5).
Sunday
Boosted by a winning performance from the 2-hour "Brothers & Sisters" event, ABC ranked No. 1 on Sunday night among Adults 18-49 (3.6/9-tie) for the 3rd week in a row.
"America's Funniest Home Videos" (7:00-8:00 p.m.)
Competing against Fox's NASCAR overrun in the 7 o'clock hour, ABC's "America's Funniest Home Videos" stood as the No. 1 non-sports show in its time slot in Adults 18-49 (2.7/8), beating out competition on CBS by 23% ("60 Minutes" � 2.2/6) and on NBC by 170% ("Best of Tracy Morgan" � 1.0/3).
� In Total Viewers (9.0 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.7/8), "America's Funniest Home Videos" marked its second-highest numbers of the season.
"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
Standing as the most-watched TV show in the 8 o'clock hour (11.0 million), ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" also beat out its unscripted competition among young adults, outrunning CBS' "Amazing Race XIV" by 17% in Adults 18-49 (3.5/9 vs. 3.0/8).
� "Home Edition" was up over its most recent original in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49 (10.4 million & 3.4/8 on 2/8/09).
"Brothers & Sisters" (9:00-11:00 p.m.)
Winning its competitive 2-hour time period over NBC's season premiere of "Celebrity Apprentice" and CBS' "Sunday Movie - Jesse Stone: Thin Ice," ABC's "Brothers & Sisters" ranked No. 1 from 9:00-11:00 p.m. across all key Adult demos: AD18-34 (3.1/8), AD8-49 (4.1/10) and AD25-54 (5.1/11).
� Gaining viewers and young adult audience from its first hour to its second hour, "Brothers & Sisters" posted best-since-season-premiere numbers, representing the series' strongest results in well over 5 months with Total Viewers (12.0 million) and Adults 18-49 (4.1/10) � since 9/22/08.
Source: Nielsen Media Research (National Live+Same Day Program Ratings), week of 2/23/09, unless stated otherwise.
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