L+7 Ratings: Despite a Number of Pre-emptions, ABC Still Claims Most of the Week's Top 10 Broadcast Playback Gainers in AD18-49

Live + 7 Day ratings for the week of 11/2/15 (Week #7):

Please note: ABC's entire regular Wednesday line-up was pre-empted for the CMA Awards and Castle was pre-empted on Monday for a CMA Awards special.

Despite a number of its programs being pre-empted during the week, ABC still claimed the most Top 10 gainers in TV playback on the broadcast networks among Adults 18-49 (5th straight week): How to Get Away with Murder (+1.7 rating points), Quantico and Scandal all tied for #4, while Grey's Anatomy (+1.6) ranked #7.

ABC's Quantico was the week's biggest broadcast gainer on a percentage basis, catapulting +131% among Adults 18-49 after 7 days of TV playback - the season's 2nd-largest percentage increase for any single telecast on any major network so far this season and the show's 2nd-biggest L+7 build yet (and its 5th straight week of triple-digit playback growth). Lead-in Blood & Oil matched the prior week's playback as its best-yet in Adults 18-49, with a +75% jump over its L+SD rating.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. matched its strongest lift of the season in Adults 18-49 (+79%).

Scandal posted an all-time playback high with Adults 18-49, growing +77% after 7 days of TV playback, while lead-out How to Get Away with Murder followed up the prior week's playback high with its 2nd-largest-ever L+7 build this week in Adults 18-49 (+89%).

On Friday, ABC's Shark Tank matched its largest-ever L+7 playback increase among Adults 18-49, growing +0.8 rating points over its L+SD number to deliver a 2.4 - up from its week-earlier L+7 rating by 14% (2.1 rating) to match a season high and its highest-rated telecast since March - since 3/20/15.

Season-to-Date TV Playback (9/21/15-11/8/15):

Based on L+7 ratings through seven weeks of the 2015-16 season, ABC is #1 in Nielsen's non-sports Adult 18-49 averages (2.5 rating), leading NBC by 9% (2.3), CBS by 14% (2.2) and Fox by 14% (2.2). Gaining almost a full rating point (+0.9 rating points) over its Live + Same Day Adult 18-49 rating (1.6 rating in L+SD to a 2.5 in L+3) in the non-sports averages, ABC is the season's biggest gainer in TV playback.

Based on TV playback data, ABC claims 5 of the Top 10 biggest broadcast gainers among Adults 18-49, tying CBS (2), NBC (2) and Fox (1) combined: Modern Family (+1.9 rating points) - #3, How to Get Away with Murder (+1.7) - #5, while Scandal, Quantico and Grey's Anatomy (+1.6) all tie for #6.

Doubling its L+SD rating in Adults 18-49 (+100%), ABC's Quantico stands as the biggest playback gainer on a percentage basis among the Fall's new shows and ties NBC's The Blacklist as the biggest among the major networks.

Among Adults 18-49 in the L+7 ratings, ABC has the Top 2 comedies on Tuesday with The Muppets (2.6 rating) and Fresh Off the Boat (2.4), 3 of the Top 4 highest-rated shows on Wednesday with Modern Family (4.8), The Goldbergs (3.2) and black-ish (3.1), the Top 3 series on Thursday with Scandal (4.2), Grey's Anatomy (4.0) and HTGAWM (3.8), the #1 show on Friday with Shark Tank (2.2) and the Top 2 broadcast series on Sunday with Quantico (3.2) and Once Upon a Time (2.7).

Nearly all of ABC's returning series are seeing bigger percentage gains among Adults 18-49 from L+SD to L+7 this year than last: black-ish (+63% vs. +44%), Castle (+67% vs. +61%), Grey's Anatomy (+67% vs. +58%), How to Get Away with Murder (+81% vs. +71%), The Middle (+40% vs. +30%), Modern Family (+66% vs. +63%), Nashville (+82% vs. +71%), Once Upon a Time (+59% vs. +43%), Scandal (+62 vs. +50%) and Shark Tank (+47% vs. +32%).

Source: The Nielsen Company, as dated. Weekly averages based on regular, original telecasts only.