ABC's Season Finale of "NY Med" Soars to 5-Week Highs

Early info on ABC's Wednesday, ahead of the regular press release.

At 10 o'clock, Part 2 of the season finale of ABC's NY Med grew over Tuesday's Part 1 by 7% in Total Viewers and by 7% in the key Adult 25-54 news demo, marking the ABC News docu-series' best performance in 5 weeks - since 7/17/12.

· Similar to Part 1, Part 2 of the NY Med finale built its overall audience from its first half-hour to its second half-hour (+5%), while both CBS (-2%) and NBC (-8%) lost viewers within the 10pm hour.

Quick Take for Wednesday, August 22, 2012 (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings)

ABC's Season Finale of "NY Med" Surges to 5-Week Highs in Total Viewers and Adults 25-54, and Scores the Time Slot's Second-Biggest Audience This Summer

"NY Med" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)

At 10 o'clock, Part 2 of the season finale of ABC's "NY Med" grew over Tuesday's Part 1 by 7% in Total Viewers (4.4 million vs. 4.1 million) and by 7% in the key Adult 25-54 news demo (1.5/4 vs. 1.4/4), marking the ABC News docu-series' best performance in 5 weeks - since 7/17/12.

· Improving its slot week to week by 5% in Total Viewers, "NY Med" scored ABC's second-biggest audience in Wednesday's 10 o'clock hour this summer.

· Similar to Part 1, Part 2 of the "NY Med" finale built its overall audience from its first half-hour to its second half-hour (+5%), while both CBS (-2%) and NBC (-8%) lost viewers within the 10:00 p.m. hour.

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 45% currently, from 42% at the same point in 2011. 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), 08/22/12.