ABC'S THE RIVER Debut Draws More Viewers For Its Time Slot

With back-to-back episodes of Last Man Standing and the series debut of THE RIVER, ABC's numbers shot up over the same Tuesday last year (an all-original schedule) by 2.2 million viewers and by 60% Adults 18-49. ABC finished as the 2nd-most-watched network overall on Tuesday evening, topping all-original programming on both Fox (Glee/New Girl/Raising Hope) and NBC (The Biggest Loser/Parenthood). In addition, ABC beat out NBC's Tuesday lineup by 20% in Adults 18-49.

In viewers and young adults, ABC marked its top Tuesday results since November - since 11/22/11.

From 8-9pm opposite CBS' top-rated NCIS, ABC's back-to-back episodes of Last Man Standing outdrew Fox's Glee and NBC's The Biggest Loser in Total Viewers, while leading the NBC unscripted series by 14% in Adults 18-49. Additionally, Last Man Standing made ABC the #2 network in the hour with key Men (M18-49/M25-54).The comedies delivered ABC's biggest audience in the hour since November and its top Adult 18-49 number since October - since 11/29/11 and 10/18/11.

ABC's Last Man Standing (8:30pm) once again finished as Tuesday's most-watched comedy overall, outdrawing Fox's Glee-led New Girl at 9pm by 1.1 million viewers.

In viewers and young adults, ABC's debut of The River opened to 11-week highs in the 2-hour time period (9-11pm), producing the Net's best results since the season finale of Dancing with the Stars (on 11/22/11).

The River generated enormous year-to-year time improvement over original drama programming on the year-ago night, jumping year over year by 36% in Total Viewers and by 60% in Adults 18-49.