Primetime Ratings Report
For the week of July 4, 2011
(Based on National Live + Same Day Program Ratings)
ABC Ranks No. 2 in Adults 18-49, Airing 5 of the Week's Top 20 TV Shows
Marking its Top Non-Sports Week this Summer in Viewers and Young Adults, ABC Builds its Overall Audience Year to Year for the 5th Time in 7 Weeks
ABC's "Wipeout" Jumps Over its Most Recent Replay Tuesday at 8pm and
Ranks No. 2 to NBC's Opening Hour of "America's Got Talent" in Adults 18-49
Building by 19% Among Adults 18-49 on "Wipeout" Against "Talent," ABC's
"101 Ways to Leave a Game Show" Improves its Time Slot by 58% Year to Year
ABC's "Combat Hospital" Grows its Hour Year Over Year in Total Viewers
More than Doubling its Lead-in, ABC's "Primetime Nightline - Casey Anthony: Not Guilty" Drives ABC's Biggest Audience to Wednesday's 10pm Hour in 5 Months
Dominating Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance" in the 8 O'clock Hour, ABC's
"Wipeout" Wins its Slot for the 3rd Week in a Row with Viewers and Young Adults
Opposite Increased Competition from the Season Opener of CBS' "Big Brother"
"Expedition Impossible" Improves its Hour Year to Year for ABC in Young Adults
Continuing to Score Big Year-Over-Year Gains for ABC in Thursday's 10pm Hour,
"Rookie Blue" Wins its Time Period for the 3rd Consecutive Week in Adults 18-49
ABC Posts Summer Highs on Friday Evening Among Total Viewers and Adults 18-49
ABC Dominates Sunday, More Than Doubling its Year-Ago Results on the Evening
Soaring Over its Lead-in, ABC's "A Special Edition of Primetime with Diane Sawyer - Jaycee Dugard: In Her Own Words" Beats CBS, NBC and Fox Combined in its Slot
Sunday's No. 1 Program, Diane Sawyer's Exclusive "Primetime" Interview with
Jaycee Dugard is TV's Most-Watched Summer Newsmagazine in Over 7 Years
"A Special Edition of Primetime with Diane Sawyer" Produces ABC's Top Summer Audience in the Time Period with Non-Sports Programming in Nearly 11 Years
WEEK No. 42:
During the week of July 4, 2011, ABC (1.4/5) took second place in Adults 18-49, beating Fox by 8% (1.3/4) and CBS by 8% (1.3/4). The Net finished No. 1 for the week among Women 18-49 (tie).
Rankings: ABC aired 5 of the Top 20 TV shows of the week in Adults 18-49: "Primetime Special Edition-7/10" - No. 2, "Wipeout-Thurs" - No. 10, "101 Ways to Leave a Game Show" - No. 13, "Expedition Impossible" - No. 17 and "Wipeout-Tues" - No. 20. ABC's "Primetime Special Edition" on Sunday, featuring Diane Sawyer's exclusive interview with Jaycee Dugard, finished as the 2nd-most-watched TV show overall during the week and qualified as the most-watched summer newsmagazine telecast in more than 7 years. In fact, the Net claimed the No. 1 newsmagazine for the 3rd week in a row among key Adults (AD18-49/AD25-54).
· Generating its strongest performance in 4 weeks (since w/o 6/6/11) with viewers and young adults, ABC posted its biggest non-sports week this summer.
· ABC grew its overall audience year to year for the 5th time in the last 7 weeks (5.2 million vs. 4.9 million on w/o 7/5/10).
Tuesday
"Wipeout" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
From 8:00-9:00 p.m., ABC's repeat "Wipeout" finished No. 2 in Adults 18-49 (1.6/5) to the opening hour of NBC's 3 hours of "America's Got Talent."
· "Wipeout" built sharply from its most recent repeat in the hour in mid-June (6/14/11), shooting up by 1.7 million viewers (5.1 million vs. 3.5 million) and by 60% in Adults 18-49 (1.6/5 vs. 1.0/3).
"101 Ways to Leave a Game Show" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Opposite the second hour of "America's Got Talent" from 9:00-10:00 p.m., ABC's "101 Ways to Leave a Game Show" surged over its lead-in by 19% in Adults 18-49, retaining an impressive 100% of its ratings from the series' first two telecasts, when it had the advantage airing out of an original "Wipeout" (1.9/5). In addition, the show hit series highs with key Women demographics (W18-34/W18-49).
· "101 Ways to Leave a Game Show" drastically improved its time period year to year for ABC, topping an original airing of the gamer "Downfall" on the same night last summer (7/6/10) by 1.3 million viewers (4.9 million vs. 3.6 million) and by 58% in Adults 18-49 (1.9/5 vs. 1.2/3).
"Combat Hospital" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
Up against the final hour of "America's Got Talent" and CBS' "48 Hours Mystery" special on Casey Anthony at 10:00 p.m., ABC's "Combat Hospital" grew its hour year to year by 13% in overall viewers, bettering original programming on the same night last year (4.3 million vs. 3.8 million for "Primetime: Family Secrets").
Wednesday
"Primetime Nightline - Casey Anthony: Not Guilty" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
More than doubling its lead-in audience (+129% - 5.5 million vs. 2.4 million) and building throughout its broadcast (5.5 million to 5.6 million) against NBC's "America's Got Talent"-fueled "Love in the Wild," ABC's special "Primetime Nightline - Casey Anthony: Not Guilty" boosted its time period by strong margins week to week in Total Viewers (+1.3 million - 5.5 million vs. 4.2 million), Adults 18-49 (+8% - 1.3/4 vs. 1.2/3) and Adults 25-54 (+13% - 1.8/5 vs. 1.6/4). The program featured Barbara Walters' sit-down with Casey Anthony's lead lawyer, Jose Baez, in his first network interview since the jury acquitted his client of murder, manslaughter and child endangerment charges the previous day.
· The "Primetime Nightline" special drew ABC's biggest overall audience to the time period in 5 months - since 2/9/11.
Thursday
With its new summer Thursday lineup, ABC won the evening among Adults 18-34 (1.4/5), beating CBS (1.3/5) with its season premiere of "Big Brother 13," Fox (1.2/4) with "So You Think You Can Dance" and NBC (0.6/2) with an original "Love Bites." The Net also ranked No. 1 on the night with key Men (M18-34/M18-49) and was the top-rated broadcaster with Teens 12-17 and Kids 2-11.
· ABC grew over the same night last year by 8% in Adults 18-34 (1.3/5 on 7/8/10), while retaining 100% of its Adult 18-49 audience (1.7/5).
"Wipeout" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
At 8:00 p.m., ABC's "Wipeout" won its time period for the 3rd straight week in both Total Viewers (6.8 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.0/7), beating its unscripted competition on Fox ("So You Think You Can Dance" = 5.5 million and 1.7/6) by 1.3 million viewers and by 18% in young adults.
· The ABC unscripted series increased its overall audience week to week, while hitting its top Men 18-34 (tie) number in the hour in 5 months - since 2/3/11.
"Expedition Impossible" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
During the 9 o'clock hour opposite the season premiere of CBS' veteran "Big Brother," ABC's freshman "Expedition Impossible" earned second place in viewers (5.7 million) and young adults (1.7/5). Against the CBS reality premiere, the broad-appealing ABC unscripted series built over the prior week Kids 2-11 (+8%) to stand as the No. 1 broadcast program (tie).
· Despite facing greater competition in the hour year to year with the season opener of "Big Brother" shifting from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., "Expedition Impossible" boosted its time period for ABC by 13% in Adults 18-49 (1.7/5 vs. 1.5/5) and by 8% in Adults 18-34 (1.3/5 vs. 1.2/4) from the same night last year with original programming.
"Rookie Blue" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
ABC's "Rookie Blue" took first place in Thursday's 10 o'clock hour in Adults 18-49 for the 3rd week running, more than doubling NBC's original "Love Bites" (+114% - 1.5/4 vs. 0.7/2) in key young adult sales demographic. The ABC sophomore drama also finished No. 1 in the hour with Adults 25-54 (1.8/5).
· "Rookie Blue" was up week to week in both viewers (+4% - 5.7 million vs. 5.5 million) and young adults (+7% - 1.5/4 vs. 1.4/4). In addition, the show equaled a season-high with Adults 18-34.
· "Rookie Blue" substantially improved its time period over the year-ago night with original programming by 16% in Total Viewers and by 36% in Adults 18-49 ("Boston Med" = 4.9 million and 1.1/4).
Friday
With replays of "Shark Tank" and "Primetime: What Would You Do?" leading into an original "20/20," ABC finished first among the major nets on Friday in Adults 18-49 (1.3/5-tie), beating CBS by 18% (1.1/4) and Fox by 63% (0.8/3). The Net drew its largest Friday audience (4.3 million) of the summer and equaled a 9-week high in young adults - since 5/20/11 and 5/6/11, respectively.
"Shark Tank" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
At 8:00 p.m., ABC's encore "Shark Tank" was the No. 1 program in the hour among Adults 18-49 (1.2/5-tie) for the 2nd week in a row, leading NBC's original "Friday Night Lights" by 71% (0.7/3) and Fox's repeat "Bones" by 50% (0.8/3). In addition, "Shark Tank" stood as Friday's top non-sports show in Adults 18-34 (1.1/5).
· "Shark Tank" generated its 2nd-largest ever repeat audience (4.0 million) and delivered its highest-ever repeat numbers in key Adult (AD18-34/AD18-49).
"Primetime: What Would You Do?" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
ABC's repeat "Primetime: What Would You Do?" led its network rivals in the 9 o'clock hour in Adults 18-34 (1.0/4), beating NBC's original "Dateline" by 25% (0.8/3).
"20/20" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
ABC's "20/20" grew week to week by 8% in Total Viewers (5.3 million vs. 4.9 million), by 8% in Adults 18-49 (1.4/5 vs. 1.3/5) and by 6% in Adults 25-54 (1.9/5 vs. 1.8/5) to produce its best numbers of the summer. In fact, the ABC newsmagazine delivered its best summer performance in nearly 1 year - since 7/23/10.
Sunday
Boosted by "A Special Edition of Primetime with Diane Sawyer - Jaycee Dugard: In Her Own Words," ABC posted a dominant first-place finish on Sunday evening, leading its nearest competition by 4.2 million viewers (10.2 million vs. 6.0 million) and by 79% in Adults 18-49 (2.5/8 vs. 1.4/4 - CBS and Fox tied).
· ABC's number soared over the year-ago Sunday by 149% in Total Viewers and by 127% in Adults 18-49 (4.1 million and 1.1/4 on 7/11/10).
"Primetime with Diane Sawyer - Jaycee Dugard: In Her Own Words" (9:00-11:00 p.m.)
ABC's "A Special Edition of Primetime with Diane Sawyer - Jaycee Dugard: In Her Own Words" more than doubled its lead-in at 9:00 p.m. among viewers (+175%) and young adults (+171%) to dominate its time slot and stand as Sunday's highest-rated TV program, attracting an average audience of 15.1 million viewers during its 2-hour broadcast. In a landmark television event, Diane Sawyer conducted the first interview with Jaycee Dugard. Dugard was kidnapped at age 11 on her way to school by Phillip and Nancy Garrido, and held captive for the next 18 years, during which time she was repeatedly abused and gave birth to two daughters. In addition to Diane Sawyer's exclusive interview with Jaycee Dugard, the two-hour special featured Chris Cuomo's investigation into why law enforcement failed to find Dugard despite 60 visits to Garrido's home.
· The definitive No. 1 TV show on Sunday, ABC's "A Special Edition of Primetime" beat CBS, NBC and Fox combined in its 9:00-11:00 p.m. time period by 5.4 million viewers (15.1 million vs. 9.7 million), by 36% in Adults 25-54 (4.9/12 vs. 3.6/9) and by 12% in Adults 18-49 (3.8/10 vs. 3.4/10). In fact, "Primetime" is ABC's biggest non-sports telecast of Summer 2011 in Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49.
· ABC's "A Special Edition of Primetime with Diane Sawyer - Jaycee Dugard: In Her Own Words" qualifies as TV's most-watched summer newsmagazine telecast in more than 7 years - since 6/20/04.
· Diane Sawyer's interview with Jaycee Dugard on Primetime produced ABC's biggest summer audience in the 2-hour time period with non-sports programming in nearly 11 years - since 8/27/00.
· The ABC newsmagazine registered as Sunday's most-watched non-sports TV broadcast since February - since ABC's February airing of the "Academy Awards" on 2/27/11.
Source: The Nielsen Company (National, Live+ Same Day Program Ratings), week of 7/4/11, unless stated otherwise.
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