ABC's GREY'S ANATOMY Wins with Adults 18-34 and Key Women

On its first original telecast since February (since 2/21/13) and on the first Thursday in Daylight Saving Time, ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" (2.6/7) doubled its Adult 18-49 lead-in (+100% over a repeat "Shark Tank") to run a strong second in the 9 o'clock hour to CBS' "Person of Interest" (which had the benefit of originals of "The Big Bang Theory"/"Two and a Half Men" as a lead-in), beating Fox's "Idol"-led "Glee" by 30% (2.0/6) and NBC's comedies by 86% ("The Office"/"1600 Penn" = 1.4/4). "Grey's" won The Hour and stood as the No. 1 drama of the night in Adults 18-34 and across all key Women (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54).

"Grey's" is one of TV's biggest gainers via TV playback, adding on 1.7 Adult 18-49 rating points (+53%) from its preliminary next-day numbers to its L+7 finals.

"Scandal" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
During the 10 o'clock hour, ABC's repeat "Scandal" beat out NBC's repeat "Law & Order: SVU" by double digit in Total Viewers (+16% - 4.3 million vs. 3.7 million) and Adults 18-49 (+33% - 1.2/4 vs. 0.9/3).

"Scandal" grew week to week by 19% in viewers and by 20% in young adults to deliver the series 2nd-highest-ever Encore numbers.

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 47% currently, from 43% at the same point in 2012.
More viewers are watching shows on their own timetables, which may not be reflected in the overnight next-day numbers. The only truly valid year-to-year comparison would be one based on the Live + 7 Day metric, once those stats are released by Nielsen.

Source: The Nielsen Company, Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings, 03/14/13.

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