• Tuesday, March 11, 2008
    ABC Television Network
    PRESS RELEASE - PRESS RELEASE - ENTERTAINMENT -
    WEEKLY PRIMETIME RATINGS WRAP-UP (WK OF 3/3)
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    Primetime Ratings Report
    For the week of March 3, 2008
    (Based on National Live + Same Day Program Ratings)
    ABC Airs 4 of the Week's Top 10 TV Shows in Viewers and Adults 18-49, with "20/20: The Royal Family," "Lost," "Home Edition" and "Oprah's Big Give"

    ABC is Up in Viewers from the Year-ago Week, the Only Net to Show Gains

    ABC's "Lost" Tops Fox's "Idol"-Driven Series Debut of "New Amsterdam"
    To Qualify as the Week's No. 1 Scripted Television Show in Adults 18-49

    For the 5th Straight Week, ABC News Claims the No. 1 Newsmag in Adults 18-49

    Dominating Competition Including NBC's Reality Block and Fox's "Terminator" Season Finale, ABC News' "20/20: The Royal Family" is Monday's No. 1 TV Show

    "20/20" Delivers the Newsmagazine's Largest Audience in More Than 5 Years

    "October Road" Grows from its Most Recent Telecast in Viewers and Young Adults, Drawing its Biggest Audience Since its Monday Season Premiere in November

    Winning Thursday's 9pm Hour for the 6th Straight Week in Adults 18-49, "Lost" Dominates Fox's "Idol"-Fueled "New Amsterdam" in Viewers and Young Adults

    "Lost" is Up Week to Week in Viewers and Across All Key Women Demographics

    ABC's "Eli Stone" is No. 1 in Thursday's 10pm Hour in Adults 18-49 and Key Men  

    ABC Wins Sunday in Viewers and Adults 18-49, with the Top 3 Series in Young Adults

    ABC Wins its Third Consecutive Sunday in Viewers and Young Adults,
    Ranking No. 1 in Each Half-Hour of the Evening Among Adults 18-49

    ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" Dominates Sunday's 8 O'clock Hour

    For the Second Week in a Row, "Oprah's Big Give" Towers Over its Sunday 9pm Slot

    ABC's "Here Come the Newlyweds" Wins Sunday's 10pm Hour in Viewers and Young Adults, Beating its Nearest Competition by 52% in the Key Adult 18-49 Sales Demo
    WEEK No. 24:
    ABC earned second place to Fox (with 3 nights of "American Idol") during the week of March 3, 2008, in Adults 18-34 (1.8/6) and across each of the key women demographics: W18-34 (2.4/7), W18-49 (3.0/8) and W25-54 (3.6/8).

    * ABC was up from the same week last year by 7% in Total Viewers (7.3 million vs. 6.8 million), the only network to register overall audience increases year to year.

    Rankings: ABC aired 4 of the Top 10 TV programs during the week in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49: "20/20 The Royals" - No. 5/No. 10, "Lost" - No. 7/No. 5, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" - No. 9/No. 7 and "Oprah's Big Give" - No. 10/No. 8. Also worth noting, ABC's "Here Come the Newlyweds" finished just outside the Top 10 in Adults 18-49, coming in at No. 12. ABC's "Lost" topped the series premiere of Fox's "Idol"-driven "New Amsterdam" to rank as TV's No. 1 scripted show for the week in Adults 18-49. ABC News' "20/20: The Royal Family" on Monday ranked as TV's No. 1 newsmagazine of the week in Total Viewers, Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54. It was the most-watched installment of "20/20" in more than 5 years - since 2/6/03. Additionally, it was the fifth straight weekly frame that ABC News claimed the No. 1 newsmagazine in Adults 18-49 and the third consecutive week among 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 over 13% at the same point in 2006, up to more than 23% 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
    For the second week in a row, ABC qualified as the most-watched TV network on Monday night. During prime, ABC outdrew second-place NBC by 2.2 million viewers (11.2 million vs. 9.0 million) and finished in a virtual tie for first place with Fox among Adults 18-49 (3.1/8 vs. 3.2/8).

    "20/20: The Royal Family" (8:00-10:00 p.m.)
    ABC News' "20/20: The Royal Family" dominated its 2-hour time period, beating its nearest competition by 5.1 million viewers (14.1 million vs. 9.0 million - NBC's "My Dad is Better than Your Dad"/"Deal Or No Deal") and by 16% among Adults 18-49 (3.7/9 vs. 3.2/8 - Fox's season finale of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles"). On both counts, ABC delivered its strongest numbers in the time slot since November - since 11/26/07, the night of the fall finale for "Dancing with the Stars." Anchored by Barbara Walters, the ABC News program offered a never-before-seen glimpse at the most famous royalty in the world - the royal family of Great Britain.

    * "20/20: The Royal Family" stood as Monday's No. 1 TV program in Total Viewers (14.1 million), Adults 18-49 (3.7/9) and Adults 25-54 (4.6/11).

    * "20/20" attracted the ABC newsmagazine's biggest audience in more than 5 years - since 2/6/03, the night of the Michael Jackson interview.

    "October Road" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
    ABC's "October Road" was up from its most recent telecast two weeks ago (2/18/08) by 1.0 million viewers (5.3 million vs. 4.4 million) and by 25% in Adults 18-49 (2.0/5 vs. 1.6/4). In fact, "October Road" drew the series' biggest audience since its season premiere on the night in November - since 11/26/07.

    Tuesday
    "Primetime: What Would You Do?" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
    ABC News' "Primetime: What Would You Do?" earned second place during 10 o'clock hour in Total Viewers (5.9 million), Adults 18-49 (2.1/6) and Adults 25-54 (2.5/6), defeating CBS' "Jericho" on all three counts.

    * The ABC newsmagazine surged from its lead-in by nearly 2 million viewers (5.9 million vs. 4.0 million) and by 40% in Adults 18-49 (2.1/6 vs. 1.5/4).


    Wednesday
    "Supernanny" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
    "Supernanny" took second place during the 9 o'clock hour across each of the key adult demos: Adults 18-34 (2.3/7), Adults 18-49 (2.8/7) and Adults 25-54 (3.1/7), behind Fox's "Idol"-inflated "Moment of Truth." The ABC unscripted series topped its NBC unscripted competition in the hour by a wide margin, beating NBC's "Deal Or No Deal" by 33% in the key young adult sales demographic (2.8/7 vs. 2.1/5).

    Thursday
    Opposite Fox with a special Thursday edition of "American Idol," ABC earned second place on the night across all key adult demos: AD18-34 (2.8/8), AD18-49 (3.3/8) and AD25-54 (3.9/9). The Net was up week to week in both viewers and young adults.

    "Lost" (9:00-10:02 p.m.)
    Jumping from its lead-in by 7.5 million viewers and by 184% in Adults 18-49 (replay of the previous week's episode = 5.5 million & 1.9/5), ABC's "Lost" dominated Thursday's 9 o'clock hour and once again qualified as TV's No. 1 scripted series on the night in viewers and all key adults. During the hour, "Lost" defeated an "American Idol"-boosted "New Amsterdam," beating the competing Fox drama by an impressive 2.9 million viewers (13.0 million vs. 10.1 million) and by 54% in Adults 18-49 (5.4/13 vs. 3.5/8). In fact "Lost" won its time period for the sixth straight week in the key Adult 18-49 sales demographic.

    * Retaining all of its Adult 18-49 audience week to week, "Lost" was up from the prior week in Total Viewers (13.0 million vs. 12.9 million) and across each of the key women demographics: W18-34 (5.4/14 vs. 5.2/13), W18-49 (5.9/13 vs. 5.7/13) and W25-54 (6.8/14 vs. 6.6/14).

    "Eli Stone" (10:02-11:00 p.m.)
    ABC's freshman "Eli Stone" ranked No. 1 during in the 10 o'clock hour in Adults 18-49 (2.4/7-tie), Men 18-49 (1.9/6-tie) and Men 25-54 (2.5/7-tie). In addition, the ABC freshman series continued to outdraw its freshman drama competition in the hour, topping NBC's "Lipstick Jungle" by 1.3 million viewers (7.1 million vs. 5.8 million).

    Sunday
    ABC won its third consecutive Sunday night in viewers and young adults, beating its nearest competitors by 1.8 million viewers (10.0 million vs. 8.2 million - CBS) and by 31% in Adults 18-49 (3.4/9 vs. 2.6/7 - Fox). ABC won all 4 hours during Sunday's prime among Adults 18-49, delivering the No. 1 position in each half-hour of the evening in the key sales demo.

    * ABC claimed the Top 2 TV programs on Sunday in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, with "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and "Oprah's Big Give."

    "America's Funniest Home Videos" (7:00-8:00 p.m.)
    ABC's "America's Funniest Home Videos" ranked No. 1 during the 7 o'clock hour in Adults 18-49 (1.9/6).

    * Working against the impact of the time adjustment one hour forward to daylight savings time, "Funniest Home Videos" saw its audience build from start to finish by 1.5 million viewers (5.9 million to 7.4 million) and by 38% in Adults 18-49 (1.6/5 to 2.2/7). With the change to daylight savings time, overall Household TV usage in the hour declined -7% week to week (HUT levels = 56.1% vs. 60.4%) and Adult 18-49 usage dropped -12% (AD18-49 PUT level = 31.3% vs. 35.5%) from the prior Sunday.

    "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
    Winning the 8 o'clock hour, ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" defeated its nearest competition in its time period by 2.6 million viewers (12.4 million vs. 9.8 million - NBC) and by 24% in Adults 18-49 (4.1/11 vs. 3.3/9 - Fox).

    "Oprah's Big Give" (9:00-10:02 p.m.)
    For the second week in a row, ABC's "Oprah's Big Give" dominated its 9 o'clock time period, defeating its closest competition by 4.1 million viewers (11.9 million vs. 7.8 million - CBS) and by 25% in Adults 18-49 (4.0/10 vs. 3.2/8 - Fox).

    * "Oprah's Big Give" retained 98% of its Adult 18-49 lead-in, and built on "Home Edition" across each of the key women demographics: W18-34 +2% (4.3/12 vs. 4.2/12), W18-49 +6% (5.3/13 vs. 5.0/13) and W25-54 +8% (6.4/14 vs. 5.9/14).

    "Here Come the Newlyweds" (10:02-11:00 p.m.)
    ABC's "Here Come the Newlyweds" won its time period for the second consecutive week in Total Viewers (8.8 million) and Adults 18-49 (3.5/9). In fact the new ABC unscripted series dominated the time period among Adults 18-49, topping second-place NBC by 52% (2.3/6 - "L&O: SVU" - R) and third-place CBS by 84% (1.9/5 - "Dexter").

    * Building on its lead-in on both measures, "Here come the Newlyweds" was up from its week-ago debut in Adults 18-34 (3.2/9 vs. 3.1/9) and Men 18-34 (2.7/7 vs. 1.8/5), also winning its slot. 


    WEEK NO. 24:  ADULTS 18-49    TOTAL VIEWERS

    
              No.1  FOX 4.5   No.1 FOX  12,120,000

    
              No.2  NBC 2.4   No.2 CBS   8,090,000

    
              No.3  ABC 2.3   No.3 NBC   7,540,000

    
              No.4  CBS 2.2   No.4 ABC   7,320,000

    
              No.5  CW  0.9   No.5 CW    2,320,000



    Source: Nielsen Media Research (National Live+Same Day Program Ratings), week of 3/3/08, 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