Live + 3: ABC's Wednesday Line-Up Sees Big Playback Gains / Modern and Black-ish Lead Wednesday's L+3 Ratings Gains

ABC's Live + 3 Day data for season premiere Wednesday (9/24/14):

At 8pm, ABC's season premiere of The Middle soared to 9.2 million viewers (from 7.6 million in L+SD) in the L+3 numbers, growing 21% (or +1.6 million viewers) over its L+SD tally - its largest ever L+3 lift for any telecast. The Middle grew to a 2.8 rating in Adults 18-49 (+27% - from a 2.2 in L+SD) to match its highest L+3 rating in 1 year - since 9/25/13.

In its new Tuesday slot, the second season premiere of ABC's The Goldbergs grew to 9.2 million Total Viewers (+26% - up +1.9 mil from 7.3 mil L+SD) and a 3.3 in Adults 18-49 (+38% - up +0.9 from 2.4 L+SD). The Goldbergs' L+3 gains were much higher than last year's debut in viewers (+26% vs. +20%) and young adults (+38% vs. +26%).

Growing to 15.2 million Total Viewers in L+3 (+33% - up +3.8 million from 11.4 million in L+SD), ABC's Modern Family premiere was up over its year-ago premiere (14.9 million on 9/28/13) to attract its largest audience since January 2013 - since 1/9/13. In addition, the ABC sitcom shot up +1.7 rating points in L+3 to a 5.6 rating in Adults 18-49 (from a 3.9 rating in L+SD), coming within 1-tenth of its year-ago premiere (5.7 rating on 9/25/13) after trailing by 2-tenths of a rating point in the L+SD numbers. With L+3 gains of +3.8 million viewers and +1.7 rating points, Modern Family was Wednesday's biggest gainer in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49.

ABC's debut of black-ish was the night's 2nd-biggest gainer in L+3 playback (behind Modern Family), adding on +3.3 million Total Viewers and +1.3 rating points in Adults 18-49. Black-ish grew to 14.3 million viewers (+30% - from 11.0 million in L+SD) and a 4.6 in Adults 18-49 (+39% - from a 3.3 in L+SD).

In the 10 o'clock hour, ABC's Nashville premiere grew to 7.8 million viewers (+34% - up +2.0 mil from 5.8 million in L+SD) and a 2.3 in Adults 18-49 (+53% - up +0.8 from a 1.5 in L+SD). Nashville scored larger lifts in L+3 playback than its head-to-head NBC drama competition in the 10pm hour (Chicago PD) in Total Viewers (+34% vs. +31%) and Adults 18-49 (+53% vs. +47%). In addition, Nashville saw a bigger L+3 lift than its year-ago premiere among young adults (+53% vs. +45%).