ABC's DWTS Finale Posts Most-Competitive Finish Ever to Idol-Tuesday Finale

With 10th-season the season closer of Dancing with the Stars, ABC nearly tied Fox with the Tuesday finale of Idol into Glee as the most-watched network (pacing within 300k viewers - 15.2 million vs. 15.5 million) on the final Tuesday of the TV Season. ABC considerably narrowed the gap with Fox from the comparable year-ago night (900k on 5/19/09). Also on the night, ABC outdrew CBS with its drama finales by 2.0 million viewers (13.2 million) and NBC with The Biggest Loser and Parenthood finales by 6.6 million viewers (8.6 million).

· ABC generated its most-watched Tuesday in 6 months since 11/24/09.

In its 10th-season finale from 9-11pm , ABC's Dancing with the Stars the Results Show produced season-high numbers on the night in both Total Viewers (18.2 million) and Adults 18-49 (3.8/13). The Dancing finale dominated all 4 of its half-hours in Total Viewers to stand as the second-most-watched TV program of the night to American Idol. In fact DWTS the Results Show finale posted its most-competitive finish ever to the Tuesday finale of Idol, running within 1.4 million viewers and shrinking the gap year to year by 2.1 million viewers.

· Soaring during its second hour from 10-11pm, DWTS outdrew its combined network competition, original drama finales on CBS (The Good Wife) and NBC (Parenthood), by 2.4 million viewers (19.0 million vs. 16.6 million) and topped second-place NBC by 62% in Adults 18-49 (4.2/12 vs. 2.6/7). Singer, songwriter, actress and the lead singer of "The Pussycat Dolls," Nicole Scherzinger won the coveted Mirror Ball trophy.

· The Dancing with the Stars finale produced ABC's second-biggest audience in the 2-hour time period this season, while generating highest Adult 18-49 number in nearly 4 months (since 2/2/10).