Our friends at ABC Family have loosed the details on last night's season finale of The Secret Life of the American Teenager. The ABC Family spinmeisters paid particular attention to the head-to-head competition with CW's Gossip Girl, but to their credit didn't come right out with the words "beat down":
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"The Secret Life of the American Teenager" (Mondays, 8:00-9:00 p.m.)
Posting season highs across all target demos, "Secret Life's" 1B finale matched its 1A finale on 9/9/08 as the series' most-watched telecast on record in Total Viewers (4.5 million), and ranks as ABC Family's No. 1 telecast on record in Females 12-34 (2.4 million). Additionally, Monday's closer qualified as the series' second-most-watched on record, behind only its 1A finale, in Adults 18-34 (1.4 million), Women 18-34 (1.1 million), Adults 18-49 (2.0 million), Women 18-49 (1.7 million) and Viewers 12-34 (2.9 million).
- Competitively, "Secret Life's" finale stood as Monday's No. 1 TV telecast in Females 12-34 (2.4 million), the No. 1 scripted telecast on all TV in Viewers 12-34 (2.9 million), and as cable's No. 1 scripted telecast in Total Viewers (4.5 million), Adults 18-34 (1.1 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.0 million), as well as in key Women.
- Against the CW's high-profile first run "Gossip Girl," "Secret Life's" finale more than doubled in Total Viewers (4.5 million vs. 2.2 million), and beat the time period rival by 50% in Adults 18-34 (1.4 million vs. 935,000), by 43% in Adults 18-49 (2.0 million vs. 1.4 million) and by 123% in Viewers 12-34 (2.9 million vs. 1.3 million) - its largest margin of victory yet.
o Impressively, "Secret Life" surpassed the CW's "Gossip Girl" in Total Viewers, Viewers 12-34 and Females 12-34, in all 6 of their head-to-head original airings, with "Secret Life's" season finale posting the largest margin of victory in key demos over the CW drama.
- During its winter season (1/5-3/23/09), "Secret Life" dominated Monday's 8 o'clock hour, overshadowing runners-up USA by 29% in Adults 18-49 (1.8 million vs. 1.4 million), by 91% in Women 18-49 (1.4 million vs. 732,000), and TBS by 45% in Adults 18-34 (1.2 million vs. 826,000), by 170% in Women 18-34 (938,000 vs. 347,000) and by 117% in Viewers 12-34 (2.6 million vs. 1.2 million). In Total Viewers, "Secret Life" topped cable giant USA by 3% (3.9 million vs. 3.8 million).
- 2008/09 season to date, "Secret Life" is cable's No. 1 original series in Viewers 12-34 (2.6 million) and Females 12-34 (2.2 million).
- Despite the heightened competitive environment, season 1B vs. 1A, "Secret Life" delivered gains in Women 18-49 (1.40 million vs. 1.38 million) and Females 12-34 (2.18 million vs. 2.14 million), and impressively held basically even in Total Viewers (3.91 million vs. 3.95 million) and all other target categories.
[ "The Secret Life of the American Teenager is set to return in Summer 2009 with 12 all-new episodes.]
Awesome. Although I’m not really a big fan, I have been watching Secret Life and I’m glad to see it murdering Gossip Girl. Mainly because GG is one of the most overrated shows on TV, and given that it’s Ostroff’s first love, I like seeing it fail.
I have to admit that I get an unhealthy satisfaction out of Gossip Girl and The CW in general getting beat down like this…
ABC Family I have praised before; as with all things Disney, I’m having second thoughts. No way Gossip Girl is as stealthily degrading as the shift on ABC family to raunch – at least in the promos. Delete this for all I care. Truth is truth. They use very good shows like Gilmore Girl – one of the best shows ever on television – as a platform to promote … well, I’ll let the nervous nellies follow up the ellipses. I say for rationgs, Disney has decided to turn up the implied raunch. Fine; I don’t care, as a practicing ” buddhist. ” But it is what it is, and that’s the way it is.
They can gloat all they want, but too bad this show blows and Gossip Girl is awesome.
Sorry if this sounds rude, but where are viewer numbers?
Not everyone cares about demo crap.
Jessy, it’s not rude. I just used the wrong version of the release and it didn’t contain any of the viewer #s or comparisons. I’ve now replaced it with the version that does (you’ll still have to suffer through the “demo crap” but at least some of them too will include viewer numbers!).
wow good ratings for such a terrible show
Teens love this show. I love seeing The CW get beat.
The success of Secret Life does prove that the type of Teen dramasthat the CW do not appeal to their desired demo compared.
ABC Family really change its name as it far from a family channel but it is my understanding that legally they cannot chnage the name unless it contains the word Family.
Suck on that Gossip girl!
I don’t care for gossip girl but I loathe SLAT. It’s the most poorly written piece of tripe I’ve seen in quite some time and I’m bitter that 4.5 million watch this show. I used to watch with my roommate just to make fun of how AWFUL it was but we have stopped out of respect for good shows that have gone before their time while garbage like SLAT live on. My wish is for both shows to die within the next few years. please.
@ Robert,
do you think Secret life’s 12-34 demos matter to advertisers. Wouldn’t they be looking more to demographics with purchasing power. Isn’t that why 18-34 is the coveted demo. Looking comparatively to gossip girl since they love that so much, aren’t they doing about equal in that key demo?
Alla, SLAT did 50% better than GG in 18-34. Its strength may be in 12-34, but it’s still kicking GG’s ass in 18-34.
Alia, while it’s true SLAT did much better among 18-34, but I think it’s a good question as to of whether the 12-34 matters advertisers over and above the 18-34.
I don’t really know. Advertisers buy advertising against various age/gender demographics. We hear much more about 18-49, 18-34, and 25-54, but there are certainly shows that are directly targeted at 12-17 year olds.
12-17 year olds DO have purchasing power: parents!
It comes down to how much advertising is purchased for 12-17 year olds (or purchased against the aggregate 12-34 level. And unfortunately I have no idea. The only thing I’m certain of is that if a show wins any demo that is measured by Nielsen, the press release will cite victory in that demo. I make the guess that at least some ad buying happens against those demographic slices, or they wouldn’t be measured at all.
@Robert ” I make the guess that at least some ad buying happens against those demographic slices, or they wouldn’t be measured at all.”
That is virtually certain.
I think what I’ve read about the younger demos is that they are important to some advertisers, but it’s so much easier to reach those demos on Nick and Disney that they aren’t worth much on other nets. I could be wrong, though.
ABC Family’s stated target audience has been 12-34 year olds, or, more generally, teens and twentysomethings, for a number of years now.
This press release is actually a rare example of a network not bragging about every specific demographic it could. Among teens (12-17), Secret Life has been the #1 scripted series on TV, with only American Idol pulling in better numbers in that demographic. Plus at least twice Secret Life’s scored higher than American Idol-Wednesday of the same week, and this week stands a good chance of beating both days of American Idol among teens.
I remember when the WB used to brag about the number of teens who watched its shows, in addition to the number of 18-34 year olds. If my math’s correct, Gossip Girl pulled in only 365,000 teens this week, so you can see why the CW doesn’t typically talk about that demo.
Thank you all for the replies.
I find it all very fascinating.
That being said, I still wish folks (young and old) had better taste than Secret Life but I guess this isn’t the place to criticize shows
i love both shows but honestly gossip girl is 100 times a better show