IMAGINARY MARY Draws ABC's Top Series Audience to Its Slot Since November

ABC's Tuesday 8:00-10:00 p.m. comedy block came back to original for the first time in 3 weeks to improve its 2-hour time period, building from the year-ago night with original programming by 20% in Adults 18-49 (1.2/4 vs. 1.0/4 for "Fresh Off the Boat"/"The Real O'Neals"/"S.H.I.E.L.D." on 4/5/16). Despite both FOX (finale of "New Girl" at 8:00 p.m. = 0.9/4 and "The Mick" at 8:30 p.m. = 0.8/3) and NBC (coming out of "The Voice" - "Trial & Error" at 9:00 p.m. = 0.9/3 and "Trial & Error" at 9:30 p.m. = 0.7/3) airing original comedies on the night, ABC delivered Tuesday's Top 4 comedies with "The Middle" (1.3/6) - No. 1, "American Housewife" (1.2/5) - No. 2, "Fresh Off the Boat" (1.1/4) - No. 3 and "Imaginary Mary" (0.9/3) - No. 4 (tie).

At 9:30 p.m., ABC's time-period premiere of "Imaginary Mary" delivered ABC's biggest series audience (3.5 million) to the half-hour since November and tied the Net's best young adult rating (0.9/3) since the beginning of January - since 11/15/16 and 1/3/17, respectively. In addition, "Imaginary Mary" held 92% of its Total Viewer lead-in for best-of-season retention out of "Fresh Off the Boat" at 9:00 p.m.

At 10:00 p.m., ABC's "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." returned for its first telecast in 5 weeks (since 2/21/17) with a 10% increase in Total Viewers (2.2 million vs. 2.0 million) and a 17% gain in Adults 18-49 (0.7/3 vs. 0.6/2) to its best performance since its January mid-season return (on 1/10/17). "S.H.I.E.L.D." Is a Top Gainer in L+3 and L+7 Day: Season to date "S.H.I.E.L.D." is Tuesday's biggest broadcast gainer in TV Playback, spiking over its L+SD Adult 18-49 rating by 75% in Live + 3 Day and by 113% in Live + 7 Day.

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.

Source: The Nielsen Company, Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings for 4/4/17.

Photo credit: ABC/ Sergei Bachlakov

To post a comment, you must register and login.