or


[09/29/11 - 09:11 AM]
"Suburgatory" and "Happy Endings" Open Big for ABC
ABC spins the numbers for Wednesday, September 28.

[via press release from ABC]

"Suburgatory" and "Happy Endings" Open Big for ABC

Some early info on ABC's Wednesday numbers, ahead of the regular press release.

Despite facing Fox's 2-hour The X Factor on the night this year, ABC's numbers rose sharply over the same Wednesday last year in both Total Viewers (+27%) and Adults 18-49 (+38%). For the 2nd week in a row this season, ABC claimed Wednesday's definitive #1 TV show with Modern Family in viewers and young adults.

At 8pm, ABC's The Middle dominated its comedy competition in the half-hour, leading NBC's Up All Night by 3.3 million viewers and by 24% in Adults 18-49. In addition, The Middle beat out CBS Survivor: South Pacific in the time period by 43% among Adults 18-34.

· Although it's facing The X Factor in the time period this year, The Middle was up from its performance on the year-ago night for the 2nd straight telecast among viewers and young adults.

Building on its lead-in by double-digit percentages among viewers (+14%) and young adults (27%) at 8:30pm, the series debut of Suburgatory opened as ABC's biggest comedy premiere in the half hour in 8 years with Total Viewers and in 6 years with Adults 18-49 - since 10/1/03 and 10/12/05, respectively. Similarly to its lead-in, Suburgatory overshadowed its comedy competition in the half-hour, more than tripling the delivery of NBC's Free Agents in viewers (+216%) and Adults 18-49 (+230%). In fact, the new ABC comedy tied Survivor in the slot among Adults 18-49 and beat the CBS reality series by an impressive 59% in Adults 18-34.

· Topping the year-ago debut of Better with You in the half-hour by sizeable margins in viewers (+24%) and young adults (+32%), Suburgatory produced ABC's largest audience in the slot with a comedy telecast since November 2003 and its top young adult number since November 2005 - since 11/19/03 and 11/16/05, respectively.

Surging over its lead-in at 9pm to win its time period over the third half-hour hour of The X Factor in viewers (+10%) and young adults (+37%), ABC's Modern Family finished as the night's #1 TV show and posted the series' 2nd-strongest regular telecast ever (behind only the prior week's season premiere).

· Despite heightened competition year to year, Modern Family jumped over its year-ago telecast by 1.3 million viewers and by 22% in young adults.

At 9:30pm against the final half-hour of The X Factor, the sophomore season premiere of Happy Endings scored series-highs in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49. Happy Endings stood as the #1 scripted show in its slot with Adults 18-34, Men 18-34 and Women 18-34.

· Boosting its time slot from the year-ago night in viewers (+6%) and young adults (+14%), Happy Endings generated ABC's best performance in the time period with regular programming in nearly 8 months - since 2/9/11.

Building on its Total Viewer lead-in (+16%) during the 10pm hour against veteran dramas on both CBS (CSI) and NBC (L&O: SVU) , ABC's freshman drama Revenge ran a strong second, beating L&O SVU by 21% in Total Viewers and by 35% in Adults 18-49. The new ABC drama ranked #1 in the hour for its 2nd straight telecast with Adults 18-34 and across all key Women demos (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54).

· Revenge continued to generate enormous time-period improvement for ABC, surging over the year-ago night in viewers (+87%) and young adults (+125%).

Quick Take for Wednesday, September 28, 2011 (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings)

ABC Produces Substantial Year-Over-Year Increases on Wednesday Evening

Up Year to Year, "The Middle" Dominates its NBC Comedy Competition at 8pm

"Suburgatory" Opens as ABC's Biggest Comedy in the Time Period in 8 Years

Wednesday's No. 1 TV Show for the 2nd Week in a Row, ABC's "Modern Family" Surges Year Over Year in Viewers and Young Adults

Marking ABC's Strongest Results in the Slot in Nearly 8 Months, "Happy Endings" Opens its Sophomore Season at Series Highs

Continuing to Deliver Huge Time-Period Improvement, ABC's "Revenge" Defeats NBC's "L&O: SVU" by 21% in Viewers and by 35% in Adults 18-49

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

Despite facing Fox's 2-hour "The X Factor" on the night this year, ABC's numbers rose sharply over the same Wednesday last year in both Total Viewers (+27% - 9.3 million vs. 7.3 million) and Adults 18-49 (+38% - 3.3/9 vs. 2.4/7). For the 2nd week in a row this season, ABC claimed Wednesday's definitive No. 1 TV show with "Modern Family" in viewers and young adults.

"The Middle" (8:00-8:30 p.m.)

At 8:00 p.m. ABC's "The Middle" dominated its comedy competition in the half-hour, leading NBC's "Up All Night" by 3.3 million viewers (8.6 million vs. 5.3 million) and by 24% in Adults 18-49 (2.6/8 vs. 2.1/6). In addition, "The Middle" beat out CBS' "Survivor: South Pacific" in the slot by 43% in Adults 18-34 (2.0/7 vs. 1.4/5).

· Although it's facing "The X Factor" in the time period this year, "The Middle" was up from its performance on the year-ago night for the 2nd straight telecast among viewers and young adults (8.4 million and 2.5/8 on 9/29/10).

"Suburgatory" (8:30-9:00 p.m.)

Building on its lead-in by double-digit percentages among viewers (+14%) and young adults (+27%) at 8:30 p.m., the series debut of "Suburgatory" opened as ABC's biggest comedy premiere in the half hour in 8 years with Total Viewers (9.8 million) and in 6 years with Adults 18-49 (3.3/9) - since 10/1/03 and 10/12/05, respectively. Similarly to its lead-in, "Suburgatory" overshadowed its comedy competition in the half-hour, more than tripling the delivery of NBC's "Free Agents" (3.1 million and 1.0/3) in viewers (+216%) and Adults 18-49 (+230%). In fact, the new ABC comedy tied time-period established "Survivor" in the slot among Adults 18-49 and beat the CBS reality series by an impressive 59% in Adults 18-34 (2.7/8 vs. 1.7/5).

· Topping the year-ago debut of "Better with You" (7.9 million and 2.5/7 on 9/22/10) in the half-hour by sizeable margins in viewers (+24%) and young adults (+32%), "Suburgatory" produced ABC's largest audience in the slot with a comedy telecast since November 2003 and its top young adult number since November 2005 - since 11/19/03 and 11/16/05, respectively.

"Modern Family" (9:00-9:30 p.m.)

Surging over its lead-in at 9:00 p.m. to win its time period over the third half-hour hour of "The X Factor" in viewers (+10% - 13.2 million vs. 12.0 million) and young adults (+37% - 5.6/14 vs. 4.1/10), ABC's "Modern Family finished as the night's No. 1 TV show and posted the series' 2nd-strongest regular telecast ever (behind only the prior week's season premiere).

· Despite heightened competition year to year, "Modern Family" jumped over its year-ago telecast by 1.3 million viewers and by 22% in young adults (11.9 million and 4.6/13 on 9/29/10).

"Happy Endings" (9:30-10:00 p.m.)

At 9:30 p.m. against the final half-hour of "The X Factor," the sophomore season premiere of ABC's "Happy Endings" scored series highs in Total Viewers (7.4 million) and Adults 18-49 (3.2/8). "Happy Endings" stood as the No. 1 scripted show in its slot with Adults 18-34, Men 18-34 and Women 18-34.

· Boosting its time slot from the year-ago night in viewers (+6%) and young adults (+14%), "Happy Endings" generated ABC's best performance in the time period with regular programming in nearly 8 months - since 2/9/11.

"Revenge" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)

Building on its Total Viewer lead-in (+16% - 8.6 million vs. 7.4 million) during the 10:00 p.m. hour against veteran dramas on both CBS ("CSI") and NBC ("L&O: SVU"), ABC's freshman drama "Revenge" ran a strong second, beating NBC's veteran drama "L&O: SVU" by 21% in Total Viewers (8.6 million vs. 7.1 million) and by 35% in Adults 18-49 (2.7/7 vs. 2.0/5). The new ABC drama ranked No. 1 in the hour for its 2nd straight telecast with Adults 18-34 and across all key Women demos (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54).

· "Revenge" continued to generate enormous time-period improvement for ABC, surging over the year-ago night ("The Whole Truth" = 4.6 million and 1.2/4) in viewers (+87%) and young adults (+125%).

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 42% currently, from 38% 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), 9/28/11.





  [september 2011]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
    


· CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION (CBS)
· FREE AGENTS (NBC)
· HAPPY ENDINGS (ABC)
· LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT (NBC)
· MIDDLE, THE (ABC)
· MODERN FAMILY (ABC)
· REVENGE (ABC)
· SUBURGATORY (ABC)
· SURVIVOR (CBS)
· UP ALL NIGHT (NBC)
· X FACTOR, THE (FOX)





most recent ratings | view all posts
[07/03/25 - 02:33 PM]
ABC News Same-Day Primetime Special "Verdict: The Diddy Trial" Is No. 1 in Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54
Versus the competition in the time period, "Verdict: The Diddy Trial" outperformed NBC by +40% in Adults 18-49 (212,000 vs. 151,000) and +22% in Adults 25-54.

[07/02/25 - 06:44 PM]
Tyler Perry's "Divorced Sistas" Quickly Rises to Become BET+'s Most Watched Original Series in Platform History
Just halfway through the eight-episode season, existing subscribers and new fans of the show have boosted the drama series to the most-watched series premiere on BET+ in just three weeks.

[07/02/25 - 02:38 PM]
Hallmark Channel Earns #1 Most-Watched Network on Weekends Throughout June with "Passport to Love" Programming Event
"Passport to Love" helped elevate Hallmark Channel to be the #1 most-watched network on weekends throughout the month of June.

[07/01/25 - 12:01 PM]
Top 10 Week of June 23: "Squid Game" Season 3 Takes Over with Record-Breaking Global Debut at No. 1
"The Waterfront" was a Top 10 hit once more as the No. 1 series on the English TV list (11.6 million views).

[07/01/25 - 10:26 AM]
ESPN Formula 1 Viewership Notes After Austrian Grand Prix
ESPN's live telecast on Sunday, June 29, averaged 1.1 million viewers, a two percent gain over last year's race and the largest audience ever for the event on U.S. television.

[07/01/25 - 09:16 AM]
ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" Featuring the Minnesota Twins vs. Detroit Tigers Averaged 2 Million Viewers - Up 66% from Last Year's Comparable Game
The audience peaked with 2,304,000 viewers in the 9:15 p.m. ET quarter hour.

[06/27/25 - 02:29 PM]
"Live with Kelly and Mark" Gears Up for Summer Rising Week to Week in All Key Measures
Wednesday, June 11, was the most-viewed day of the week among Total Viewers (2.164 million).

[06/27/25 - 10:31 AM]
"Jimmy Kimmel Live" Tops Late-Night in Adults 18-49 for Third Week in a Row
Winning three of five nights in Kimmel's final week before summer guest hosts, Thursday, June 19, was the show's strongest night among Adults 18-49 (0.35 rating).

[06/25/25 - 11:55 AM]
Prime Video Finishes Groundbreaking First Season of Exclusive NASCAR Coverage
According to Nielsen, NASCAR on Prime posted a season average of 2.16 million viewers (AMA P2+) across five events, and attracted droves of younger viewers to its live coverage.

[06/25/25 - 07:58 AM]
ABC News Primetime Special "Karen Read: The Verdict - A Special Edition of 20/20" Ranks #1 Across All of Broadcast and Cable in Adults 18-49
Plus: "Karen Read: The Verdict" placed No. 1 based on views among all titles on Hulu on Thursday (6/19), Friday (6/20) and Saturday (6/21).

[06/24/25 - 03:03 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in All Key Target Demos 18-49 vs. CBS' "After Midnight" and NBC's "Late Night with Seth Meyers" for 2nd Consecutive Week, and Claims Top Spot in Total Viewers for the 5th Straight Week
On Monday (6/16/25), "Nightline" scored its most-watched telecast (1.112 million) in 5 months.

[06/24/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of June 16: "Tyler Perry's Straw" Leads Top 10 for Third Week, "The Waterfront" Swims to No. 1
Plus: "Ginny & Georgia" Season 3 racked up another 8.1 million views and felt peachy keen at No. 2, while Season 2 landed at No. 8 and Season 1 at No. 10, with an additional 2.7 million views each.

[06/24/25 - 08:42 AM]
Third Most-Watched WNBA Game Ever on ESPN: Indiana Fever vs Las Vegas Aces Averaged 1.7 Million Viewers, Up 52% from Last Year's ESPN Average
Said coverage peaked at 2.2 million viewers.

[06/23/25 - 12:09 PM]
Indiana Pacers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Game 7 on ABC and ESPN+ Is Most-Watched NBA Finals Game in Six Years
The seven-game series averaged 10,266,000 viewers and delivered the seven most-watched broadcasts on all of television since the first week of May.

[06/18/25 - 09:01 AM]
Murder Mystery May Drives Acorn TV to the Most Successful Month In Its History
Total hours watched surpassed 20 million for the first time in Acorn TV history, with unique engaged subscribers also achieving an all-time high, up double digits from the streamer's average over the past 12 months.