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[05/19/08 - 01:35 PM]
Fast Facts for Sunday, May 18, 2008 (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Program Ratings)
ABC spins the numbers for Sunday, May 18.

[via press release from ABC]

Fast Facts for Sunday, May 18, 2008 (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Program Ratings)

ABC Dominates the Final Sunday of the Sweep and Season, Beating its Nearest Competition by 1.7 Million Viewers and by 81% in Adults 18-49

ABC Tops Sunday for the 13th Straight Week in Adults 18-49 and Ranks No. 1 on Each Sunday for 4 Consecutive May Sweeps in the Key Sales Demo

From 7-8pm, Part 1 of ABC's "Home Edition" Fifth Season Closer Registers the Net's Highest Adult 18-49 Rating in the Hour in 11 Weeks

Winning its 8pm Slot by 41% Opposite CBS' "Academy of Country Music Awards," ABC's "Home Edition" is Sunday's No. 2 TV Show in Adults 18-49 to "Housewives"

Sunday's No. 1 TV Show for the 6th Straight Week and on Every Original Airing this Season, "Desperate Housewives'" Season Finale Overshadows its Slot Competition

Excluding Oscar Sundays, "Desperate Housewives'" Fourth Season Finale Attracts ABC's Biggest Audience in the Sunday 9-11pm Time Period in Nearly 1-1/2 Years

Sunday Primetime (7:00-11:00 p.m.)

ABC dominated the final Sunday of the May Sweep and TV Season, beating second-place CBS by 1.7 million viewers (13.1 million vs. 11.4 million) and by 81% in Adults 18-49 (4.7/13 vs. 2.6/7). In fact ABC posted its 13th consecutive week as Sunday's No. 1 TV network in the key Adult 18-49 sales demographic. Furthermore, by winning each Sunday of the 2008 May Sweep, ABC marked its 4th consecutive May to rank No. 1 on each Sunday of the sweep � 16 consecutive May Sundays from May '05-May '08.

� Excluding Academy Awards night, the Network turned in its best Sunday numbers in over 5 months in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49 � since 12/2/07.

� For the 6th consecutive Sunday (each week since its return), ABC's "Desperate Housewives" qualified as the evening's No. 1 TV program in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, standing as Sunday's highest-rated series on all 16 of its original airings this season. ABC won each half-hour of the evening and delivered the Top 2 shows of the night in Adults 18-49 with "Housewives" and "Home Edition."

"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition � 7P" (7:00-8:00 p.m.)

Part 1 of ABC's 2-part season finale of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" defeated its nearest competitor during the 7 o'clock hour by 63% in Adults 18-49 (2.6/9 vs. 1.6/6 � CBS' "60 Minutes") and delivered the Net's highest rating in the slot in 11 weeks � since 3/2/08.

"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)

Opposite the opening hour of CBS' "Academy of Country Music Awards," ABC's "Home Edition" dominated its hour among Adults 18-49, beating its closest competition in the hour by 41% (3.8/11 vs. 2.7/8 � Fox's season finales of "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill").

"Desperate Housewives" (9:00-11:00 p.m.)

Sunday's No. 1 TV show for the 6th week in a row, ABC's fourth season finale of "Desperate Housewives" beat out second-place CBS' "Academy of Country Music Awards" in its 2-hour time period by 4.9 million viewers (16.8 million vs. 11.9 million) and by 97% in Adults 18-49 (6.1/15 vs. 3.1/10).

� Growing week to week by 1.4 million viewers and by 9% in Adults 18-49 (15.4 million and 5.6/14 on 5/11/08), excluding Oscar Sundays, the fourth season closer of "Desperate Housewives" attracted ABC's biggest audience in the time period in almost 1-1/2 years � since 11/26/06.

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 jumped from over 15% at the same point in 2006-07, up to more than 24% 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), 5/18/08.





  [may 2008]  
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· 60 MINUTES (CBS)
· DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (ABC)
· EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION (HGTV)
· KING OF THE HILL (HULU)
· SIMPSONS, THE (FOX)





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