Live + 3: Week 2 of ABC's HTGAWM Earns Bigger Playback Lifts than its Debut, Topping the Gains of CBS' Big Bang and NBC's Blacklist

ABC's Live + 3 Day Data for Thursday (10/2/14):

ABC claimed the 3 biggest gainers in playback on Thursday among Adults 18-49 and in Total Viewers, with How to Get Away with Murder, Scandal and Grey's Anatomy. In the L+3 numbers, HTGAWM (91%) and Scandal (89%) delivered even stronger retention of their big openers the prior week compared to their L+SD retentions.

The 2nd episode of ABC's How to Get Away with Murder delivered a larger L+3 lift than its week-ago debut among Adults 18-49, picking up +2.0 rating point (+61%) versus +1.9 rating points for its debut telecast (+49%). In fact, HTGAWM is on track to be the week's #1 biggest gainer in L+3 among young adults (+2.0 rating points) and in Total Viewers (+4.9 million), topping the playback gains of both CBS' The Big Bang Theory (+1.8 rating points and +4.1 million) and NBC's The Blacklist (+1.5 rating points and +4.7 million).

Growing to 17.0 million Total Viewers after 3 days of playback, HTGAWM was Thursday's most-watched show for the 2nd week in a row, topping CBS' NFL game by 400,000 viewers (after trailing by more than 4.0 million viewers in the L+SD numbers).

At 9pm, ABC's Scandal went up to 13.9 million viewers (+30% - up +3.2 million from 10.7 million in L+SD) and a 4.7 rating in Adults 18-49 (+38% - up +1.3 from a 3.4 in L+SD). For the 2nd week in a row, Scandal saw bigger L+3 lifts than its year-ago telecast in Total Viewers (+3.2 million vs. +3.0 million) and Adults 18-49 (+1.3 rating points vs. +1.2 rating points).

With the addition of L+3 playback, ABC's Grey's Anatomy grew to 12.2 million viewers (+30% - up +2.8 million from 9.4 million in L+SD) and a 3.9 rating in Adults 18-49 (+44% - up +1.2 from a 2.7 in L+SD).

Source: The Nielsen Company, as dated. Based on regular, original telecasts only.