Primetime Ratings Report for the week of September 30, 2013 (Based on National Live + Same Day Program Ratings)

ABC is Up Year to Year for the 2nd Straight Week in Adults 18-49, Standing as the Only Net to Improve in Both Weeks this Season

ABC Airs 5 of the Week's Top 20 TV Shows in Adults 18-49, Including the No. 1 Drama with "Scandal" and the No. 1 New Show with "S.H.I.E.L.D."

The Net Grows on 6 of 7 Nights in Adults 18-49 From the Same Week Last Year

ABC's "Castle" Builds on its Lead-in and Grows 16% in Adults 18-49 Year to Year

"Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." is Tuesday's No. 1 Show in Men, and Excluding Only the Prior Week's Big Debut, Hits a 2-Year High for ABC in the Hour in Adults 18-49

ABC's "The Goldbergs" is Tuesday's No. 1 Comedy for the 2nd Week in a Row

"Trophy Wife" Delivers More Viewers than All 4 of Fox's Tuesday Comedies

ABC Wins Wednesday in Adults 18-49, Growing by 18% Year to Year

"The Middle" is Up from its Year-Ago Telecast in Viewers and Young Adults

ABC's "Back in the Game" Delivers Solid Retention of its Week-Ago Debut

Retaining 100% of its Week-Earlier Season Premiere, "Modern Family" is Wednesday's No. 1 TV Show in Adults 18-49 for the 2nd Week in A Row

ABC's "Nashville" Beats the Debut of NBC's "Ironside" by 46% at 10pm

"Grey's Anatomy" Posts the Series' Most-Watched Telecast in Nearly 1 Year

"Scandal" Opens its 3rd Season at Series Highs with a 71% Increase Year to Year

"Shark Tank" is Friday's No. 1 TV Show for the 3rd Straight Week in Adults 18-49

"20/20" Draws its Biggest Audience Since March and Top Adult Ratings Since May

ABC's "Saturday Night Football" is No. 1 on the Night for the 3rd Week in a Row

ABC's "Once Upon A Time" Retains 100% of its Week-Ago Premiere in Adults 18-49

"Revenge" Outdraws Fox's Comedies and is the Non-Sports Leader in Women 18-49

Week No. 2

Coming off a 5% year-to-year increase during season-premiere week in Adults 18-49, ABC was up for the 2nd straight week, as the only net to improve in both weeks this season. During Week 2 (w/o 9/30/13), ABC grew over the same week last year in Adults 18-49 (+5% - 2.1/6 vs. 2.0/6 on w/o 10/1/12), building its young adult audience on 6 of 7 nights (Mon/Tues/Wed/Thurs/Fri/Sat). In fact, ABC was up the most among the major nets during Week 2: Fox (-14% - 1.8/5 vs. 2.1/6), NBC (flat - 2.8/8) and CBS (+4% - 2.5/7 vs. 2.4/7).

Rankings: ABC aired 5 of the week's Top 20 TV programs in Adults 18-49, including the No. 1 drama with "Scandal" and No. 1 freshman series with "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.:" "Modern Family" - No. 6 (No. 2 scripted show), "Scandal" - No. 9 (No. 1 drama), "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." - No. 12 (No. 1 new series - tie), "Super Fun Night"- No. 15 and "Grey's Anatomy" - No. 16. In addition, ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" (No. 9), "Modern Family" (No. 15), "Castle" (No. 17) and "Scandal" (No. 18) each finished among the week's Top 20 most-watched shows overall.

Weekly Social Activity: ABC broadcasted 4 of the Top 10 most social broadcast series for the week, including the No. 1 show with the "Scandal" premiere: "Scandal" - No. 1 (713k tweets), "Grey's" - No. 7 (62k tweets), "DWTS" - No. 8 (60k tweets) and "Once Upon a Time" - No. 9 (54k tweets).

Monday

ABC (12.2 million and 2.1/6) finished as the No. 2 broadcast net on Monday night in Total Viewers, outdrawing Fox by 4.8 million viewers (7.6 million) and CBS by 5.5 million viewers (6.8 million). ABC was up from the same night last year by 6% in Total Viewers and by 5% in Adults 18-49 (11.7 million and 2.0/5 on 10/1/12).

"Dancing with the Stars" (8:00-10:01 p.m. - 12.8 million and 2.0/5 AD18-49)

ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" stood as the 2nd-most-watched broadcast TV show of the evening to "The Voice," topping Fox's dramas in the 2-hour time period by 5.3 million viewers (7.6 million) and CBS' comedies by 5.8 million viewers (7.3 million). Bill Nye was the second celebrity dancer to be eliminated from the competition this season.

"Castle" (10:01-11:00 p.m. - 10.9 million and 2.2/6 AD18-49)

Building 10% on its Adult 18-49 lead-in at 10:00 p.m., ABC's "Castle" held even with its week-earlier season premiere and was up 16% over its performance on the same night last year (1.9/5 on 10/1/12). In the hour, "Castle" (10.9 million, 2.2/6 and 2.9/7) beat CBS' Hostages (6.0 million, 1.5/4 and 1.9/5) by even wider margins week to week, leading by 82% in Total Viewers, by 47% in Adults 18-49 and by 53% in Adults 25-54. Live + 3 Day Ratings: Last week's season opener of ABC's Castle gained a full Adult 18-49 rating point in the L+3 numbers, going from a 2.2 rating to a 3.2 rating and also added 3.4 million viewers to its next-day totals (going from 11.5 million to 14.9 million).

Tuesday

With its Tuesday night freshman lineup, ABC (5.5 million and 1.9/6) was up by 12% from the year-ago night in Adults 18-49 (1.7/5 on 10/2/12). The Net beat out Fox's Tuesday lineup (3.4 million and 1.5/4) by 2.1 million viewers and by 27% in Adults 18-49.

"Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." (8:00-9:01 p.m. - 8.7 million and 3.3/10)

Excluding only the prior week's big debut, week 2 of ABC's "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." delivered the Net's highest Adult 18-49 rating in the Tuesday 8:00-9:00 p.m. time period in 2 years - since 10/10/11. The ABC drama won its hour over NBC's "The Voice" and CBS' "NCIS" across all key Men demos (M18-34/M18-49/M25-54) to rank as Tuesday's No. 1 TV show on all 3 measures.

· A big gainer in early TV playback, "S.H.I.E.L.D.'s" 3.3 L+SD rating is projected to go up to a 4.5 Adult 18-49 rating in the Live + 3 Day numbers (+38%).

"The Goldbergs" (9:01-9:31 p.m. - 6.1 million and 2.2/6):

At 9:00 p.m., ABC's "The Goldbergs" ranked as Tuesday's No. 1 comedy for the 2nd week in a row with Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, beating Fox's "New Girl" (3.8 million and 1.9/5) head to head in the half-hour by 61% and 16%, respectively. In addition the new ABC comedy improved its time period year to year by 10% in Adults 18-49 (2.0/5 on 10/2/12).

"Trophy Wife" (9:31-10:01 p.m. - 4.3 million and 1.4/4):

At 9:30 p.m., ABC's "Trophy Wife" drew 1.4 million more viewers than Fox's "The Mindy Project" (4.3 million vs. 2.9 million) and was the night's 2nd-most-watched comedy, leading all 4 of Fox's sitcoms and trailing only "The Goldbergs."

Wednesday

ABC won Wednesday in Adults 18-49 (2.6/8) for the 2nd straight week. Also for the 2nd week in a row, ABC's "Modern Family" was the dominant No. 1 TV show of the night across all key Adult demos.

· The Net was up over the year-ago Wednesday by 18% in young adults (2.2/6 on 10/3/12), making ABC the only year-to-year gainer.

"The Middle" (8:00-8:30 p.m. - 8.0 million and 2.3/7 in AD18-49)

ABC's "The Middle" took second at 8:00 p.m. in Adults 18-49, beating Fox's "The X Factor" (2.1/7) and NBC's "Revolution" (1.6/5).

· The ABC comedy was up over its delivery on the same night last year by 4% in Total Viewers and by 5% in Adults 18-49 (7.7 million and 2.2/7 on 10/3/12).

"Back in the Game" (8:30-9:00 p.m. - 6.7 million and 1.9/6 in AD18-49)

Continuing to deliver solid Adult 18-49 lead-in retention at 8:30 p.m. (83%), ABC's "Back in the Game" beat NBC's "Revolution" (1.6/5) in the half-hour by 19%.

· "Back in the Game" showed promising retention of its week-ago debut in viewers, young adults and all key Women: Total Viewers (84%), AD18-49 (86%), W18-34 (94%), W18-49 (96%) and W25-54 (91%).

"Modern Family" (9:00-9:31 p.m. - 11.1 million and 4.2/12 in AD18-49)

ABC's "Modern Family" more than doubled its Adult 18-49 lead-in (+121%) at 9:00 p.m. to dominate its half-hour. "Modern Family" held 100% of its week-earlier season premiere young adult rating.

· L+3 Adult 18-49 Ratings: Last week's season premiere of "Modern Family" added on +1.6 rating points in the Live + 3 Day data to deliver a 5.8 rating.

"Super Fun Night" (9:31-10:00 p.m. - 8.2 million and 3.2/9 in AD18-49)

Delivering greatly improved Adult 18-49 lead-in retention out of "Modern Family" (76% - best retention for any regular comedy debut in the slot in 4 years - since 9/23/09), ABC's "Super Fun Night" opened at a dominant No. 1 in the 9:30 p.m. half-hour and as the No. 2 broadcast show on Wednesday, behind only "Modern Family." In addition, "Super Fun Night" was the No. 1 most social new comedy premiere so far this season (16,902 tweets).

· "Super Fun Night" is ABC's highest-rated regular Wednesday Fall comedy debut in the half-hour since 2009 - since 9/23/09.

"Nashville" (10:00-11:00 p.m. - 6.0 million and 1.9/6 in AD18-49)

At 10:00 p.m., ABC's "Nashville" beat NBC's series debut of "Ironside" (1.3/4) by 46% Adults 18-49 and won the hour with Women 18-49. "Nashville earned better than 90% retention of its week-ago season opener in Total Viewers (92%), AD18-49 (95%), W18-34 (100%) and W18-49 (96%).

· L+3 Adult 18-49 Ratings: The week-ago premiere of "Nashville" shot up 45% (up from a 39% increase for the year-ago premiere) in the Live + 3 Day numbers, growing to a 2.9 rating (vs. a 2.0 in L+SD).

Thursday

Featuring a "Scandal" recap special, "Grey's Anatomy" and the 3rd season premiere of "Scandal" (opened at series highs), ABC placed a strong second to CBS' all-original lineup in Adults 18-49 (2.8/8 vs. 3.0/9), while defeating originals on Fox by 56% (1.8/5) and on NBC by 100% (1.4/5).

· The Net was up 8% over the year-ago night in Adults 18-49 (2.6/7 on 10/4/12), delivering its strongest non-sports Thursday since the beginning of November - since 11/01/12.

"Scandal: The Secret is Out" (8:00-9:00 p.m. - 5.8 million and 1.6/5 in AD18-49)

Starting off the night at 8:00 p.m., ABC's "Scandal: The Secret is Out" series recap special beat out NBC's comedies in the hour by strong margins ("Parks and Recreation"/"Welcome to the Family" series debut = 3.1 million and 1.2/4) in Total Viewers (+88%) and Adults 18-49 (+33%).

"Grey's Anatomy" (9:00-10:00 p.m. - 9.6 million and 3.1/9 in AD18-49)

At 9:00 p.m., ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" nearly doubled its Adult 18-49 lead-in (+94%) to lead its hour by 19% over CBS' comedies ("The Crazy Ones"/"Two and a Half Men" = 2.6/7), by 94% over NBC's comedies ("Sean Saves the World" debut/"The Michael J Fox Show" = 1.6/4) and by 94% over Fox's "Glee" (1.6/5).

· "Grey's" was up over its week-earlier season premiere in Total Viewers (+3%) to deliver the series' most-watched telecast in almost 1 year - since 10/18/12.

"Scandal" (10:00-11:00 p.m. - 10.5 million and 3.6/10 in AD18-49):

Building on its "Grey's" lead-in by best-ever margins in viewers (+9%) and young adults (+16%), ABC's "Scandal" opened its 3rd season at series highs in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49. In Adults 18-49, "Scandal" spiked 71% over its year-ago season premiere (2.1/6 on 9/27/12) and surpassed its previous series highs by 13% (3.2/9 set on its final two telecasts last season). "Scandal" was the No. 2 TV show of the night in Adults 18-49, behind only CBS' "The Big Bang Theory."

· "Scandal" generated ABC's best numbers for a Thursday 10:00 p.m. series telecast since January 2010 in viewers and since November 2010 in young adults - since 1/14/10 and 11/4/10, respectively.

"Scandal" Social Activity: The "Scandal" premiere delivered 712,877 tweets, which was the show's highest social delivery to date and stood as the No. 1 most social series of the week. In fact, it delivered the highest number of tweets for any broadcast series telecast this season. The premiere was up 22% from May's season finale (583,111 tweets) and up 714% from last fall's premiere (87,525 tweets).

Friday

ABC won Friday in Adults 18-49 (1.6/5) and was the only major net up week to week, gaining 14% to tie its highest rating on the night since mid-April - since 4/19/13. For the 3rd straight week, ABC delivered the No. 1 TV show on Friday with "Shark Tank." In fact, the Net aired the Top 2 shows of the evening with "Shark Tank" and "20/20." The Net was up over the same night last year by 7% (1.5/5 on 10/5/12).

"Last Man Standing" (8:00-8:30 p.m. - 6.3 million and 1.4/6 in AD18-49)

Ranking No. 1 at 8:00 p.m. in Adults 18-49, ABC's "Last Man Standing" was up week to week in viewers (+11%) and young adults (+17%).

"The Neighbors" (8:30-9:00 p.m. - 4.1 million and 1.0/4 in AD18-49)

At 8:30 p.m., ABC's "The Neighbors" increased its overall audience week to week and retained 100% of its Adult 18-49 delivery.

"Shark Tank" (9:00-10:00 p.m. - 6.4 million and 1.9/6 in AD18-49)

At 9:00 p.m., ABC's "Shark Tank" built on its Adult 18-49 lead-in (+90%) to win its hour by 27% over runner-up CBS' "Hawaii Five-0" (1.9/6 vs.1.5/5).

"20/20" (10:00-11:00 p.m. - 5.8 million and 1.6/5 in AD18-49)

ABC's "20/20" ranked No. 1 in the 10 o'clock hour in Adults 18-49, leading CBS' "Blue Bloods" by 14% (1.4/5) and NBC's "Elizabeth's Story: A Meredith Vieira Special" by 33% (1.2/4). In addition to dominating "Dateline" in the hour with young adults, "20/20" also beat its NBC newsmagazine competition in Total Viewers (+4% - 5.8 million vs. 5.6 million) and Adults 25-54 (+11% - 2.0/6 vs. 1.8/5). Anchored by Elizabeth Vargas and David Muir, "20/20" reported on people engaging in behavior that is thoughtless, questionable, or wrong. Growing over the prior week by more than 20% to deliver season highs in Total Viewers (+32%), Adults 18-49 (+33%) and Adults 25-54 (+25%), "20/20" drew its biggest audience since March and earned its highest Adult ratings since May - since 3/29/13 and 5/10/13, respectively.

Saturday

With coverage of college football (Ohio State at Northwestern), ABC ranked as the No. 1 network on Saturday night for the 4th week in a row in Total Viewers (6.8 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.2/8), beating college football coverage on both Fox (2.1 million and 0.8/3) and NBC (3.5 million and 0.9/3). In fact, ABC beat college football coverage on Fox and NBC combined in Total Viewers (+21% - 6.8 million vs. 5.6 million) and Adults 18-49 (+29% - 2.2/8 vs. 1.7/6). ABC grew week to week for the 3rd week in a row in viewers (+5%) and young adults (+5%) to hit a 5-week high - since 8/31/13. The Net also saw gains over the year-ago week of 33% in Total Viewers and 47% in Adults 18-49, making ABC the only year-to-year gainer.

"Saturday Night Football" (8:06-11:49 p.m. - 7.4 million and 2.5/8 in AD18-49)

ABC's "Saturday Night Football" won the night for the 3rd consecutive week in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49. The ABC football game was over up over the prior week's game in both viewers (+9%) and young adults (+14%) to score the franchise's best performance since the end of August - since 8/31/13. Saturday night's game also grew over the year-ago game by 42% in Total Viewers and by 67% in Adults 18-49.

Sunday

Against strong sports-driven competition from NBC's Sunday Night Football and an NFL overrun-fueled CBS, ABC drew 17% more viewers than Fox on Sunday night (5.4 million vs. 4.6 million). ABC's "Once Upon a Time" and "Revenge" were Sunday's Top 2 dramas in Adults 18-49, outdelivering CBS' NFL-boosted "The Good Wife" (1.6/4) and "The Mentalist" (1.5/5).

"Once Upon a Time" (8:00-9:00 p.m. - 8.0 million and 2.6/7 in AD18-49)

Nearly quadrupling its repeat lead-in at 8:00 p.m. (+271% - over an encore of last week's premiere episode), ABC's "Once Upon a Time" retained 100% of its week-ago premiere in Adults 18-49. In addition, the ABC drama grew 5% over its premiere in Adults 18-34 to post its best number since January - since 1/13/13. "Once Upon a Time" ranked as the No. 1 entertainment program in its hour with key Women: W18-49 (3.4/9) and W18-34 (3.1/10). It was also the No. 1 most social broadcast telecast of the evening (53,618 tweets).

"Revenge" (9:00-10:01 p.m. - 6.8 million and 1.9/5 in AD18-49)

During the 9 o'clock hour, ABC's "Revenge" topped Fox's comedies by 2.0 million viewers ("Family Guy"/"American Dad" = 4.8 million) and beat out its non-sports competition with Women 18-49 (2.6/6).

L+3 Day Ratings: Last week's "Revenge" premiere gained a full Adult 18-49 rating point in the L+3 numbers (+43%) and the percentage increase was considerably higher for this year's premiere than for last year's opener (+43% vs. +28%). "Revenge" was also Sunday's biggest overall gainer in L+3, adding on another +2.5 million viewers to its L+SD tally.

"Betrayal" (10:01-11:00 p.m. - 3.9 million and 1.1/3 in AD18-49)

During the 10 o'clock hour, ABC's "Betrayal" defeated its CBS drama competition ("Good Wife"/"Mentalist") with Women 18-34 (1.3/4 vs. 1.2/4).

WEEK NO. 02: ADULTS 18-49 TOTAL VIEWERS
No.1 NBC 2.8 No.1 CBS 10,850,000
No.2 CBS 2.5 No.2 NBC 8,720,000
No.3 ABC 2.1 No.3 ABC 7,370,000
No.4 FOX 1.8 No.4 FOX 4,820,000
No.5 CW 0.5 No.5 CW 1,370,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (National, Live+ Same Day Program Ratings), week of 09/30/13.