Quick Take for Thursday, February 21, 2008 (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings)

Against Fox with its Special Thursday Installment of "American Idol," ABC Earns Second Place on the Evening Among Adults 18-49

The Night's Top Scripted Program, "Lost" Surges from its Lead-in to Dominate Thursday's 9pm Hour for the Fourth Week in a Row in Viewers and Young Adults

Despite Stiffer Competition in the Time Period This Week from an "Idol"-Fueled Fox, ABC's "Lost" Grows Week to Week in Adults 18-34, Women 18-49 and Women 18-34

During the 10 O'clock Hour, ABC's Freshman "Eli Stone" Continues to Outdraw its Freshman Drama Competition, NBC's "Lipstick Jungle"

Thursday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)

Against Fox with its special Thursday installment of "American Idol," ABC took second place on the evening among Adults 18-49 (3.4/8).

� ABC's "Lost" ranked as Thursday's No. 1 scripted TV show in Total Viewers and across each of the key adult demographics (AD18-34/AD18-49/AD25-54).

"Lost" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)

Surging from its lead-in by 8.0 million viewers and by 235% in Adults 18-49 (replay of the previous week's episode = 5.5 million & 1.7/4), ABC's "Lost" moved ABC into a dominant first place in the 9 o'clock hour for the fourth week in a row. Despite its decided lead-in advantage coming into the hour from "American Idol," "Lost" outperformed second-place Fox's "Don't Forget the Lyrics" by 1.0 million viewers (13.5 million vs. 12.5 million) and by 19% in Adults 18-49 (5.7/13 vs. 4.8/11).

� Although the ABC drama faced stiffer demographic competition in the time period from Fox this week, "Lost" was up week-to-week among Adults 18-34 (5.1/13 vs. 5.0/15), Women 18-49 (6.2/14 vs. 6.1/15) and Women 18-34 (5.6/14 vs. 5.1/14).

"Eli Stone" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)

ABC's freshman "Eli Stone" defeated its freshman drama competition in the 10 o'clock hour, NBC's "Lipstick Jungle," among Total Viewers (7.6 million vs. 5.8 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.7/7 vs. 2.5/6).

A note about increasing DVR penetration and year-to-year rating comparisons: Year-to-year rating trends based on the Live + Same Day data stream may be somewhat distorted by the level of DVR penetration in the Nielsen sample, which has nearly doubled from nearly 13% at the same point in 2006, up to more than 22% currently. 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: Nielsen Media Research (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings), 2/21/08.