ABC's HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER Nearly Triples NBC's 'The Player'

On a night full of sports competition from the MLB Playoffs and Thursday Night Football, ABC (7.6 million and 2.2/7) marked its 4th straight Thursday this season as the dominant No. 1 non-sports net with the Top 3 entertainment shows.

The Net outdelivered NBC's drama lineup (4.9 million and 1.1/4) by 56% in Total Viewers and 100% in Adults 18-49 and Fox's drama lineup (4.4 million and 1.0/3) by 73% in Total Viewers and 120% in Adults 18-49. ABC's TGIT lineup once again won the night across key Women (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54) and with playback will significantly close the Adult 18-49 gap with CBS on the night.

ABC's Thursday lineup showed strong retention, holding 96% of last week's Adult 18-49 delivery (2.3/8).

Live + 3 Ratings for Last Week: ABC's Thursday dramas stood as the night's top gainers in TV playback with Adults 18-49, adding 1.2-1.3 rating points after 3 days of TV playback: "Grey's Anatomy" (+1.2 points to deliver a 3.4 rating), "Scandal" (+1.3 points to a 3.9 rating) and "How to Get Away with Murder" (+1.2 points to a 3.4 rating).

Please Note: Both "Grey's" and "Murder" adjusted up 1-tenth in the National ratings last week.

"Grey's Anatomy" (8:00-9:00 p.m. - 8.2 million and 2.2/8 in AD18-49):
At 8:00 p.m., ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" was up 5% from its week-ago Fast Affiliate Adult 18-49 rating (2.2/8 vs. 2.1/8) and doubled its drama competition in the hour on both NBC ("Heroes Reborn" = 1.1/4) and FOX ("Bones" = 1.1/4).

"Scandal" (9:00-10:00 p.m. - 8.0 million and 2.3/7 in AD18-49):
Building on its lead-in at 9:00 p.m., ABC's "Scandal" (2.3/7) beat NBC's "The Blacklist" by 64% (1.4/4) in Adults 18-49 and Fox's "Sleepy Hollow" by 188% (0.8/3). In addition, "Scandal" attracted 1.2 million more viewers than "The Blacklist" (8.0 million vs. 6.8 million).

"How to Get Away with Murder" (10:00-11:00 p.m. - 6.7 million and 2.0/7 in AD18-49):
At 10:00 p.m., ABC's "How to Get Away with Murder" nearly tripled NBC's "The Player" in Adults 18-49 (best-yet +186% - 2.0/7 vs. 0.7/2). "Murder" also drew 2.7 million more viewers than "The Player" (6.7 million vs. 4.0 million).

A note about DVR penetration: DVR penetration in the Nielsen sample is currently at 48% in U.S. TV Homes. More viewers are watching shows on their own timetables, which are increasingly not reflected in the overnight Live + Same Day numbers. As a result, the Live + 7 Day ratings are the most accurate measure to gauge the size of the TV audience.

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