ABC Wins Thursday with GREY'S ANATOMY as the Night's No. 1 TV Series for the 2nd Week in a Row

ABC's drama lineup won Thursday night in Adults 18-49 (1.6/6), outdelivering NBC's schedule by 33% ("Superstore"/"The Good Place"/"Chicago Med"/"The Blacklist" = 1.2/4) and Fox's drama lineup by 78% ("Rosewood"/"Pitch" = 0.9/3). The Net's lineup held steady with last week's premiere Thursday in Adults 18-49 (1.6/6 vs. 1.7/6).

• At 8:00 p.m., ABC self-starter "Grey's Anatomy" ranked as Thursday's No. 1 TV series for the 2nd week in a row with Adults 18-49 (2.4/9). The ABC drama was even with its week-ago Fast Affiliate rating (which adjusted up 1-tenth in the National ratings) and up 4% from its year-ago telecast (2.3/8 on 10/1/15).

• At 9:00 p.m., ABC's "Notorious" retained 100% of its week-ago debut in Adults 18-49 (1.1/4), registering the best hold so far this season for any new drama. In L+3, the "Notorious" premiere surged 41% to 7.6 million viewers and 45% to a 1.6 Adult 18-49 rating. Head to head, ABC's "Notorious" beat Fox's "Pitch" in the hour by 24% in Total Viewers (4.6 million vs. 3.7 million) and 10% in Adults 18-49 (1.1/4 vs. 1.0/3), finishing as Thursday's most-watched new show and the No. 1 new drama in Adults 18-49. Also worth noting, "Notorious" tied NBC's "Blacklist" delivery on the night with young adults (1.1/4 at 10:00 p.m.).

• At 10:00 p.m., ABC's "How to Get Away with Murder" won its hour, beating NBC's "The Blacklist" by 18% in Adults 18-49 (1.3/5 vs. 1.1/4) and held steady with its week-earlier premiere (1.4/5). Please Note in L+3: Last week's "Murder" was premiere Thursday's biggest gainer in the Live + 3 Day Adult 18-49 ratings with a +79% jump over its L+SD number (1.4 rating to a 2.5 rating) and also tied "Grey's" as the night's biggest absolute gainer with a +1.1 rating point spike.

Projections Rationale:

Lifts vs. L+SD are based on 2015-16 season averages for originals (excluding the premiere).

Returning shows: Profile based on same show (either premiere or averages for originals).

New Series: Based on similar series.

A note about DVR penetration: DVR penetration in the Nielsen sample is currently at 49% 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 Nielsen measure to gauge the size of the TV audience.

Source: The Nielsen Company Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings for 9/29/16. Image courtesy of ABC.

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