Quick Take for Monday, May 4, 2009 (National Live + Same Day Program Ratings)

ABC Wins Monday in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, Qualifying as the Night's Most-Watched Net for the 10th Consecutive Week

Opposite All-Original Programming on CBS, NBC and Fox, "DWTS" Leads its Time Slot in Viewers and Young Adult for the 4th Week in a Row

Up in Viewers for the 3rd Straight Week, Season's Penultimate Telecast of ABC's "Castle" Beats Second Hour of NBC's "Medium" Finale in Viewers and Adults 18-49

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

ABC stood as Monday's No. 1 network in both Total Viewers (17.0 million) and Adults 18-49 (4.2/11), leading the night in viewers for the 10th week running. Turning in its best numbers on the night on both counts in 7 weeks (since 3/16/09), ABC topped the second place networks by 5.1 million viewers (11.9 million - CBS) and by 5% in Adults 18-49 (4.0/11 � CBS and NBC tied).

� ABC was up over the same night last year, improving by 4.0 million viewers and 24% in Adults 18-49 (13.0 million & 3.4/9 on 5/05/08).

"Dancing with the Stars" (8:00-10:02 p.m.)

Despite airing opposite stiff all-original competition, including CBS' comedy block, Fox's dramas "House" and "24" and NBC's "Deal or No Deal" and "Medium," ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" led its time period in Total Viewers (20.3 million) and Adults 18-49 (4.8/13) for the 4th straight week. In the key young adult demo, ABC beat CBS and Fox (4.0/10 � tied) by 20% and NBC (1.6/4) by 200%. For the 9th time in as many weeks, "DWTS" qualified as Monday's No. 1 program in viewers, as well as in Women 18-49 (7.1/17) and Women 25-54 (8.8/20).

� Building on the previous week's performance by 1.0 million viewers and by 12% in Adults 18-49 (19.3 million and 4.3/11 on 4/27/09), "DWTS" logged ABC's best numbers in the two-hour time period since March � since 3/30/09.

"Castle" (10:02-11:00 p.m.)

Growing its overall audience for the 3rd week in a row, ABC's "Castle" placed second at 10:00 p.m. to CBS's veteran drama, "CSI: Miami," outperforming the second hour of NBC's "Medium" season finale by 1.9 million viewers (10.0 million vs. 8.1 million) and by 12% in Adults 18-49 (2.8/7 vs. 2.5/7). In addition, the season's penultimate episode of the ABC freshman drama saw its largest audience and highest young adult performance in 7 weeks � since 3/19/09.

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 31% currently, from 24% 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: Nielsen Media Research (National, Live + Same Day Program Ratings), 5/4/09.