ABC Dominates Sunday's Metered Markets - Oscar Ratings Delivery Schedule

Ratings Delivery Schedule: ABC has ordered time-zone adjusted true "Fast National Ratings" from Nielsen, scheduled to be delivered by 3PM ET today - with millions of Total Viewers and Adult 18-49 rating for the 88th Annual Academy Awards broadcast.

Please note: The usual time-period based "Fast Affiliate Ratings" are inaccurate for live events like the Oscars.

Once the "Fast National" ratings are delivered, ABC will be putting this information into a ratings release and sending it out via e-mail. Final National Ratings for Sunday night will be released by Nielsen on their normal delivery schedule, tomorrow morning (3/1/16).

However, since Nielsen's release times may be tight for some deadlines, here is some information for the Oscars based on Nielsen's Household Metered Market ratings in the 56 U.S. markets and Adult 18-49 ratings in Nielsen's LPM Markets:

· Academy Awards Average: From 8:30pm-12am (the official Nielsen end-time will be 11:51pm, based on the conclusion of the final national commercial spot in the program), the 2016 Academy Awards telecast averaged a 23.4/36 among Households in the overnight Metered Markets. Among Adults 18-49, the 2016 Academy Awards scored a 13.5/37 rating in Nielsen's LPM (Local People Metered) markets. The show was on par with last year's broadcast, which did a 24.6/39 in Homes (revised from a 25.0/38 initially reported in the overnight Metered Markets) and a 13.9/37 in Adults 18-49 (revised from 14.2/36 initially reported in the LPMs).

· ABC's 2016 Academy Awards telecast outdelivered CBS' 2016 Grammy Awards telecast from two weeks ago by 45% in MM Homes (23.4/36 vs. 16.1/25 on 2/15/16) and by 56% in LPM Adults 18-49 (13.5/37 vs. 8.7/26).

· Competitive Sunday Prime Averages: With the 88th Annual Academy Awards broadcast and Oscar's Red Carpet 2016 pre-show during Sunday's prime (7-11pm for ABC, CBS and NBC, 7-10pm for Fox), ABC beat CBS, NBC and Fox combined by +205% on average in the U.S. Household Metered Markets (ABC = 19.2 rating vs. 6.3 = CBS, NBC and Fox combined) and by +506% in Adults 18-49 (10.9 rating vs. 1.8 rating).

· Top 5 Household Metered Markets: The Top 5 highest-rated markets for the 2016 Academy Awards telecast were New York (33.2 rating), San Diego (31.2 rating), Chicago (31.0 rating), San Francisco (29.6 rating) and Los Angeles (29.5 rating).

Sunday, February 28, 2016 - Based on True L+SD Fast National Ratings

ABC's 2016 "Academy Awards(R)" Is TV's Top Entertainment Telecast in 1 Year

"The Oscars(R)" Grows Year to Year in Adults 18-34 and Across All Key Men

"The Academy Awards" Dominates Social With a 22% Jump Year to Year

ABC Sunday Prime (7:00-11:00 p.m. - preliminary "Fast Affiliate" averages)

With its broadcast of the "88th Annual Academy Awards," ABC towered over Sunday's prime, outdelivering its combined broadcast competition (CBS, NBC and Fox) by 184% in Total Viewers (28.1 million vs. 9.9 million) and by 295% in Adults 18-49 (8.3/24 vs. 2.1/6).

"Oscar's Red Carpet Live-Pt 3" (8:00-8:30 p.m.)

From 8:00-8:30 p.m. leading into the ceremony, ABC's "Oscar's Red Carpet Live" pulled in 22.2 million viewers on average.

"The Oscars" (8:30-11:51 p.m.)

ABC's 2016 telecast of "The Oscars" drew an average audience of 34.3 million Total Viewers and earned a 10.4 rating among Adults 18-49, based on Nielsen's Live + Same Day "Fast National" ratings. In viewers and young adults, the 2016 "Oscars" stands as TV's biggest entertainment telecast in 1 year - since last year's telecast on 02/22/15.

· The 2016 "Academy Awards" retained 94% of last year's Total Viewers and 96% among Adults 18-49 in the Fast National ratings (36.6 million and 10.8 rating in Adults 18-49 on 2/22/15), which adjusted up in the National numbers (to 37.3 million and 11.0 rating in Adults 18-49). In addition, the Chris Rock-hosted ceremony grew year to year with Adults 18-34 (+1% - 9.4 rating vs. 9.3 rating) and across all key Men demos: +20% M18-34 (8.5 vs. 7.1), +6% M18-49 (9.4 vs. 8.9) and +1% M25-54 (10.3 vs. 10.2).

· TV's No. 1 awards show, ABC's "The Oscars" towered over other key awards shows this year, outdrawing the 2016 "Golden Globe Awards" by 15.8 million viewers and 89% in Adults 18-49 (18.5 million/5.5 rating in AD18-49 on 1/10/16) and the 2015 "Grammy Awards" by 9.3 million viewers and 35% in Adults 18-49 (25.0 million/7.7 rating in AD18-49 on 2/15/16).

· ABC's 2016 "Oscars" telecast reached an estimated 57.9 million unique television viewers across the U.S. - unduplicated Viewers 2 + watching 6 minutes or more during the broadcast.

Social Activity (Nielsen Social)

According to Nielsen Social, "The Oscars" on ABC was the No. 1 most social program on Sunday with a total of 1.8 million people in the U.S. sending one or more of the 7.2 million tweets, surging 22% over last year's telecast (5.9 million tweets).

· The most tweeted about minute of the telecast occurred at 11:56 p.m. EST (175,148 tweets) as viewers applauded Leonardo DeCarprio's first Oscar win for Best Actor.

Source: The Nielsen Company, Live + Same Day, Fast National Program Ratings for 02/28/16, unless stated otherwise. Nielsen Social, ranked by unique audience or Tweets, 02/28/16 vs. 02/22/15.