Quick Take for Monday, July 27, 2009 (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings)

Posting Summer-High Numbers, ABC Dominates Monday Night in Viewers and Young Adults, Winning in Adults 18-49 for the 4th Time in 5 Weeks

ABC's "The Bachelorette" Finale Hits Season-Highs, Marking Net's Biggest Non-Sports Summer Audience from 8-10pm in 8 Years and Highest Adults 18-49 Rating in 7 Years

Season Closer of "The Bachelorette" Posts Show's Most-Watched Telecast in 5 Years

Wining at 10pm in Young Adults for the 2nd Straight Week, "Dating in the Dark" Retains All of its Week-Ago Debut Numbers to Stand as the No. 1 New TV Series

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

Building on the previous week and hitting summer highs for the 3rd week in a row in viewers and young adults, ABC posted a dominant win on Monday with the season finale of "The Bachelorette" and Week 2 of "Dating in the Dark." ABC beat out second-place CBS by 1.4 million viewers (8.7 million vs. 7.3 million) and by 48% in Adults 18-49 (3.1/9 vs. 2.1/6). Winning each half-hour of the night for the 2nd straight week, ABC led Monday in the key Adults 18-49 sales demo for the 2nd week running and for the 4th time in the last 5 weeks.

"The Bachelorette" (8:00-10:00 p.m.)

Turning in its strongest numbers of the season, the season finale of "The Bachelorette" towered above its 2-hour time period competition to qualify as Monday's No. 1 TV program in both Total Viewers (9.9 million) and Adults 18-49 (3.4/10 - 2nd week in a row). In fact, the fifth-season ender marked ABC's biggest non-sports summer audience in the time period in 7 years and its highest-rating among Adults 18-49 in 8 years - since 7/8/02 and 5/28/01, respectively. In addition, the 5th season closer of "The Bachelorette" generated the show's most-watched telecast in over 5 years - since the Season 2 finale on 2/25/04.

* "The Bachelorette" saw its audience grow by 2.7 million viewers (8.8 million to 11.5 million) and 45% in Adults 18-49 (2.9/10 to 4.2/11) from 8:00-10:00 p.m., with Bachelorette Jillian giving the final rose to Ed.

* "The Bachelorette" saw increases over its year-ago season finale (7/7/08) by 4% in Total Viewers (9.9 million vs. 9.5 million) and by 7% in Adults 18-34 (3.2/11 vs. 3.0/10), while matching its year-ago performance in Adults 18-49.

"Dating in the Dark" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)

Winning its 10 o'clock time period for the 2nd week in a row among Adults 18-34 (2.3/7) and Adults 18-49 (2.5/7), ABC's "Dating in the Dark" retained all of its week-earlier debut numbers to stand as the No. 1 new TV series of Summer 2009 with Total Viewers and Adults 18-49.

* "Dating in the Dark" qualified as the No. 2 program of the night for the 2nd consecutive week among Adults 18-34 (2.3/7), Women 18-34 (3.0/10) and Women 18-49 (3.4/10), behind only "The Bachelorette" season ender.

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 32% currently, from 25% 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 (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings), 7/27/09.