via ABC press release:
March 5 2009
Quick Take for Wednesday, March 4, 2009
(Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings)
ABC Places a Solid No. 2 to Fox in Adults 18-49, Surging Over the Year-
Ago Wednesday by 38% with its 5th Straight Week of Year-to-Year Growth
For the 7th Straight Wednesday, "Lost" is TV's No. 1 Scripted Show in Adults 18-49
Growing Week to Week, "Lost" Wins the 9pm Hour in Viewers and Young
Adults, Beating Fox's "Idol"-Driven "Lie To Me" by its Biggest Margins Yet
"Life On Mars" Posts its Top Adult 18-49 Number Since its Time Slot Premiere
Wednesday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)
Turning in its most competitive finish on the night with its regular line-up since the return of "Idol" in January, ABC placed a solid No. 2 to Fox on Wednesday night among Adults 18-49 (2.9/8), beating third-place CBS by 32% (2.2/6) and fourth-place NBC by 93% (1.5/4).
- Continuing to deliver increasing year-to-year returns on the night, ABC's Wednesday results were up from the same night last year (3/5/08) by 1.0 million viewers (7.0 million vs. 6.0 million) and by 38% in Adults 18-49 (2.9/8 vs. 2.1/5). In fact it was ABC's 5th consecutive week to deliver year-to-year young adult growth on the night, finishing up or even with the year-ago Wednesday for 7 weeks in a row.
"Lost" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Catapulting from its lead-in by 5.8 million viewers and by 200% in young adults and gaining audience from start to finish, ABC's "Lost" won the 9 o'clock hour, defeating second-place Fox's "Idol"-driven "Lie To Me" by its biggest margins yet in both Total Viewers (+4% - 10.6 million vs. 10.2 million) and Adults 18-49 (+33% - 4.8/12 vs. 3.6/9).
- ABC's "Lost" registered its 7th week in a row as Wednesday's No. 1 scripted TV show in Adults 18-49. The ABC drama was also the evening's highest-rated scripted show in the other two key Adult demos: Adults 18-34 (4.5/13) and Adults 25-54 (5.2/12).
- "Lost" surged week to week by 5% in Total Viewers and by 9% in Adults 18-49 (2/25/09 = 1.01 million and 4.4/11).
"Life on Mars" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
During the 10 o'clock hour, ABC's "Life on Mars" drew its biggest audience (5.7 million) in 4 weeks and posted its highest Adult 18-49 rating (2.1/6) since its premiere on the night 5 weeks ago - since 2/4 and 1/28/09, respectively.
A note about increasing DVR penetration and year-to-year rating comparisons: Year-to-year rating comparisons based on the Live + Same Day data stream are distorted by the level of DVR penetration in the Nielsen sample, which has jumped up to 30% currently, from 23% at the same point in
Surged week to week by 5%? So the drop in total Nielsen ranking from 11.3 to 9.8 million last week (during “Life and Death of…”) didn’t really happen?
Molly, the above is for last night’s (3/4/09) episode of Lost, which did surge, mostly by virtue of not being up against American Idol this week. Last week’s episode (Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham) did slump vs the week prior to that, because that episode faced Idol and the week before did not.
Lost Rocks!