• Tuesday, February 26, 2008
    ABC Television Network
    PRESS RELEASE - PRESS RELEASE - ENTERTAINMENT -
    PRIMETIME RATINGS REPORT (WEEK OF 2/18)
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    Primetime Ratings Report
    For the week of February 18, 2008
    (Based on National Live + Same Day Program Ratings)
    In Viewers and Young Adults, ABC Post its Strongest Results in 12 Weeks

    The "Academy Awards" Stands as the Week's Most-Watched TV Show, the No. 1 Entertainment Telecast of the Sweep and as the Season's Top Entertainment Special

    ABC's "Lost" is the Week's No. 1 Scripted Program in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49

    Growing Week-to-Week, "Wife Swap" Tops CBS' "Big Brother" on Wednesday at 8pm

    ABC's "Supernanny" Takes Second to Fox's Expanded "Idol" Across Key Adult Demos

    Thursday's Top Scripted TV Program, "Lost" Surges from its Lead-in to Dominate
    The Night's 9pm Hour for the Fourth Week in a Row in Viewers and Young Adults

    Despite Stiffer Competition in the Time Period This Week from an "Idol"-Fueled Fox, ABC's "Lost" Grows Week to Week in Adults 18-34, Women 18-49 and Women 18-34

    During the 10 O'clock Hour, ABC's Freshman "Eli Stone" Continues to
    Outdraw its Freshman Drama Competition, NBC's "Lipstick Jungle"

    Posting its Highest Numbers on the Night in Over 1 Year, ABC News' "20/20" Wins Its Time Slot and Stands as Friday's No. 1 TV Show in Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54

    Dominating Sunday with the "Oscars," ABC Tops its Combined Network
    Competition on the Night by 2.6 Million Viewers and by 11% in Adults 18-49

    "The Barbara Walters Special" and "Oscar's Red Carpet 2008"
    Are Top Draws in their Respective Time Periods on Sunday Evening

    ABC's "Oscars" Attracts a Much Larger Audience than Any Other Awards Show
    This Season, Including the "Emmys," the "Grammys" and the "Golden Globes"
    WEEK No. 22:
    ABC took second place to Fox (with five hours of "American Idol") during the week of February 18, 2008 in Total Viewers (9.9 million) and Adults 18-49 (3.2/8).

    * In viewers and young adults, ABC turned in its strongest results in 12 weeks - since w/o 11/26/07.

    Rankings: ABC claimed 4 of the week's Top 15 TV programs in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, including the most-watched show overall with the "Academy Awards" and the No. 1 scripted series with "Lost": "Academy Awards - No. 1/No. 3, "Oscar's Red Carpet 2008" - No. 5/No. 5, "Lost" - No. 7/No. 6 and "The Barbara Walters SP-2/24" - No. 13/No. 15. In addition to qualifying as the week's most-watched show, the "Academy Awards" also finished the week as the No. 1 TV show in Adults 18-34. The "Oscars" ranks as the most-watched entertainment telecast of the 2008 February Sweep (second among all shows to only the "Super Bowl") and by far as the No. 1 entertainment special this season. Marking its top Friday numbers in more than 1 year, ABC News' "20/20" stood as the No. 1 newsmagazine of the week in Adults 18-49 for the third consecutive week. "20/20" was also the top newsmagazine for the week in Adults 25-54.

    A note about increasing DVR penetration and year-to-year rating comparisons: Year-to-year rating trends based on the Live + Same Day data stream may be somewhat distorted by the level of DVR penetration in the Nielsen sample, which has nearly doubled from 13% at the same point in 2006, up to more than 22.5% currently. 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.

    Monday

    "Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann" (8:00-10:01 p.m.)
    The season finale of ABC's "Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann" finished second in its time period in Total Viewers (9.2 million), Women 18-49 (3.4/8), Women 25-54 (4.4/10).

    Wednesday

    "Wife Swap" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
    At 8:00 p.m., ABC's "Wife Swap" beat CBS' competing unscripted show in the hour, "Big Brother 9," in both Total Viewers (5.4 million vs. 5.2 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.0/5 vs. 1.9/5). In addition, the ABC unscripted series was also up over the prior week's performance in both Nielsen measures (5.2 million & 1.8/5 in Adults 18-49 on 2/13/08).

    "Supernanny" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
    "Supernanny" took second place in the hour across each of the key adult demos: Adults 18-34 (2.0/5), Adults 18-49 (2.3/5) and Adults 25-54 (2.5/5), behind only the second hour of Fox's 2-hour "American Idol" telecast.

    Thursday

    "Lost" (9:00-10:02 p.m.)
    Surging from its lead-in by 8.3 million viewers and by 235% in Adults 18-49 (replay of the previous week's episode = 5.4 million & 1.7/4), ABC's "Lost" moved ABC into a dominant first-place finish in the 9 o'clock hour for the fourth week in a row. Despite Fox's decided lead-in advantage coming into the hour from a special Thursday installment of "American Idol," "Lost" topped second-place Fox's "Don't Forget the Lyrics" in the time slot by 1.3 million viewers (13.7 million vs. 12.4 million) and by 19% in Adults 18-49 (5.7/13 vs. 4.8/11).

    * "Lost" ranked as Thursday's No. 1 scripted TV show in Total Viewers and across each of the key adult demographics (AD18-34/AD18-49/AD25-54).

    * Although the ABC drama faced stiffer demographic competition in the time period from Fox this week, "Lost" grew its audience week-to-week among Adults 18-34 (5.1/13 vs. 5.0/15), Women 18-49 (6.2/14 vs. 6.1/15) and Women 18-34 (5.5/14 vs. 5.1/14).

    "Eli Stone" (10:02-11:00 p.m.)
    ABC's freshman "Eli Stone" defeated its freshman drama competition in the 10 o'clock hour, NBC's "Lipstick Jungle," among Total Viewers (7.2 million vs. 5.7 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.5/7 vs. 2.4/6).


    Friday

    "20/20-SP" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
    A Special Edition of ABC News' "20/20" at 9:00 p.m. examining rare medical conditions and cases drew 6.6 million viewers and a 1.8 rating, 5 share in Adults 18-49. The ABC newsmagazine turned in the Net's strongest young adult performance in the hour in 11 weeks - since 12/7/07.

    "20/20" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
    Building on its lead-in, the evening's second telecast of ABC News' "20/20," focusing on "Facing Ethical Dilemmas, What Would You Do?," led its time-slot and drew the newsmag's best numbers on the night in Total Viewers (8.7 million) and across each of the key adults demographics (Adults 18-34 - 2.2/7, Adults 18-49 - 2.9/8, and Adults 25-54 - 3.4/9) in over 1 year - since 2/9/07.

    * "20/20" stood as Friday's No. 1 program in Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54.

    Sunday

    With coverage of the "80th Annual Academy Awards," ABC topped its combined network competition on Sunday evening. During primetime, ABC outdrew the other networks combined by 2.6 million viewers (25.8 million vs. 23.2 million - CBS, NBC, Fox and CW) and by 11% in Adults 18-49 (8.3/21 vs. 7.5/19 - CBS, NBC, Fox and CW).

    "The Barbara Walters Special" (7:00 - 8:00 p.m.)
    ABC's telecast of "The Barbara Walters Special" drew an average audience of 11.7 million viewers and delivered a 3.2 rating among Adults 18-49, ranking as the most-watched show in its time period.

    "Oscar's Red Carpet 2008" (8:00 - 8:30 p.m.)
    With "Oscar's Red Carpet 2008" pre-show, ABC dominated its time period, beating second place Fox in the slot by 10.4 million viewers (21.5 million vs. 11.1 million) and by 54% in Adults 18-49 (6.3/17 vs. 4.1/11).

    The "80th Annual Academy Awards" (8:30-11:38 p.m.)
    ABC's broadcast of the "80th Annual Academy Awards" attracted an average audience of 32.0 million Total Viewers and posted a 10.7 rating, 26 share among Adults 18-49, based on Nielsen's "fast national" ratings. The "Academy Awards" stood as the most-watched TV show of the week and also as the No. 1 entertainment telecast of the 2008 February Sweep.

    * ABC's "80th Annual Academy Awards" (32.0 million) towered over other awards shows this season, including the 2007 "Emmy Awards" (13.0 million), the 2008 "Golden Globes" (6.0 million) and the 2008 "Grammy Awards" (17.2 million).

    * ABC's "80th Annual Academy Awards" reached 64.13 million unique television viewers across the U.S. - unduplicated Viewers 2+ watching 6-minutes or more during its telecast. 

    WEEK NO. 22:   ADULTS 18-49      TOTAL VIEWERS

    
        No.1 FOX 5.7   No.1 FOX   14,960,000

    
        No.2 ABC 3.2   No.2 ABC   9,880,000

    
        No.3 NBC 2.3   No.3 CBS   7,930,000

    
        No.4 CBS 2.1   No.4 NBC   7,230,000

    
        No.5 CW  0.9   No.5 CW    2,400,000


    Source: Nielsen Media Research (National Live+Same Day Program Ratings), week of 2/18/08, unless stated otherwise.
    ABC Media Relations Contact:
    Jeff Lindsey (818) 460-5095 jeffrey.s.lindsey@disney.com

    Pons Rongavilla (818) 460-5615 ponciano.rongavilla@disney.com

    Susan Sewell (212) 456-1508 susan.l.sewell@disney.com