ABC's Tuesday Line-up Improves Year-to-Year for 2nd Week in a Row

Tuesday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)

For the 2nd week in a row, ABC's Tuesday lineup improved on the same night last year (7/21/09) in Total Viewers (+1.6 million - 4.9 million vs. 3.3 million) and Adults 18-49 (+55% - 1.7/5 vs. 1.1/3). In fact the Net is up over the year-ago night for the 7th time in 8 weeks this summer.

"Wipeout-TUES" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)

ABC's "Wipeout" won its hour for the 3rd time in its last 4 original telecasts in the time-slot among Adults 18-49 (2.9/10), topping Fox's "Hell's Kitchen" by 7% (2.7/9). In fact, the ABC unscripted series ranked No. 1 in the hour for the 4th original airing in a row among Adults 25-54 and key Men (M18-49/M25-54).

· "Wipeout" hit season-highs among Adults 18-34 (2.5/9) and Men (2.3/9). In fact, "Wipeout" equaled its top Adults 18-34 performance in nearly 2 years - since 7/29/08.

"Downfall" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)

Against well-established competition in the hour on NBC ("America's Got Talent"), CBS ("NCIS: Los Angeles") and Fox ("Hell's Kitchen"), "Downfall" improved ABC's deliveries on the same night last year by 1.6 million viewers (3.4 million vs. 1.8 million) and by 71% in Adults 18-49 (1.2/3 vs. 0.7/2).

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 37% currently, from 32% at the same point in 2009. 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), 7/20/10.