The Bachelorette Special Draws ABC's Top Summer Entertainment Audience in Slot in 5 Years

From 9-11pm on Sunday, ABC's The Bachelorette: The Men Tell All special finished as the most-watched TV show in its 2-hour time period, defeating original series programming on both CBS (Same Name) and NBC (Marriage Ref).

· Building sharply on its lead-in and gaining viewers throughout its broadcast, ABC's The Men Tell All beat out CBS Big Brother-boosted Same Name by 16% in Total Viewers and by 7% in Adults 18-49 from 9-10pm and then towered over NBC's Marriage Ref 97% in Total Viewers and by 89% in Adults 18-49 from 10-11pm.

· The Bachelorette: The Men Tell All produced ABC's biggest summertime numbers in the time period with entertainment programming in nearly 5 years among Total Viewers and in more than 3 years among Adults 18-49 - since 8/27/06 and 7/6/08, respectively

· The Bachelorette special generated enormous year to year improvement over original drama programming on the same night last year, boosting the 2-hour time period by 74% in Total Viewers and by 100% in Adults 18-49.

Quick Take for Sunday, July 31, 2011 (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings)

Surging its Over its Lead-in and Building Audience Throughout is 2-Hour Broadcast, ABC's "The Bachelorette: The Men Tell All" is the Most-Watched TV Show in its Slot

ABC's "The Bachelorette: The Men Tell All" Special Attracts the Network's Biggest Summertime Entertainment Audience to the Time Slot in Nearly 5 Years

"Men Tell All" Generates Enormous Year-to-Year Time Period Improvement for ABC

"The Bachelorette: The Men Tell All" (9:00-11:00 p.m.)

From 9:00-11:00 p.m., ABC's "The Bachelorette: The Men Tell All" special finished as the most-watched TV show (5.4 million) in its 2-hour time period, defeating original series programming on both CBS ("Same Name") and NBC ("Marriage Ref").

· Building sharply on its lead-in and gaining viewers throughout its broadcast, ABC's "The Bachelorette: The Men Tell All" beat out CBS' "Big Brother"-boosted "Same Name" by 16% in Total Viewers (5.1 million vs. 4.4 million) and by 7% in Adults 18-49 (1.5/4 vs. 1.4/4) from 9:00-10:00 p.m., and then towered over NBC's "Marriage Ref" by 97% in Total Viewers (5.7 million vs. 2.9 million) and by 89% in Adults 18-49 (1.7/4 vs. 0.9/2) from 10:00-11:00 p.m.

· "The Bachelorette: The Men Tell All" produced ABC's biggest summertime numbers in the time period with entertainment programming in nearly 5 years among Total Viewers (5.4 million), and in more than 3 years among Adults 18-49 (1.6/4) - since 8/27/06 and 7/6/08, respectively

· "The Bachelorette" special generated enormous year-to-year improvement over original drama programming on the same night last year ("Scoundrels"/"The Gates" on 8/1/10 = 3.1 million and 0.8/2 in Adults 18-49), boosting the 2-hour time period for ABC by 74% in Total Viewers and by 100% in Adults 18-49.

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 41% currently, from 37% at the same point in 2010. 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: The Nielsen Company (Fast Affiliate, Live + Same Day Ratings), 8/1/11.