ONCE UPON A TIME Marks ABC's Best Fall Drama Debut in 6 Years

More than tripling its Lead-in and building throughout against stiff competition, ONCE UPON A TIME marks ABC's Best Fall Drama Debut retention in 6 years.   Building its Numbers for the 2nd Week Running, ABC's "Desperate Housewives" Generates Best-Since-Premiere Results with Total Viewers and Young Adults.  ABC's "Pan Am" Marks its Top Numbers in 4 Weeks in Young Adults and Key Women.

Sunday Night (7:00-11:00 p.m.)
Against strong sports-led competition on the evening from an ultra high-rated Sunday Night Football contest (Dallas Cowboys-Philadelphia Eagles) and CBS' NFL-overrun fueled lineup, ABC hit Sunday season highs in Adults 18-34 and across all key Women demos (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54).

* Despite starting out the evening with a rebroadcast of the "Once Upon a Time" pilot in the 7:00 p.m. hour, ABC was up over the year-ago evening's all-original lineup by double-digit percentages with young Adults and key Women: AD 18-49 (+14% - 2.5/6 vs. 2.2/6), AD18-34 (+12% - 1.9/5 vs. 1.7/5), W18-34 (+23% - 2.7/7 vs. 2.2/7) and W18-49 (+21% - 3.5/9 vs. 2.9/8).

"Once Upon a Time" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
More than tripling its Adult 18-49 lead-in at 8:00 p.m. (+225% - 3.9/9 vs. 1.2/3) and building its audience throughout its broadcast opposite "Sunday Night Football" and CBS' NFL-overrun driven programming ("60 Minutes"/"Amazing Race"), ABC's "Once Upon a Time" finished as the definitive No. 1 non-sports program in its time period. From 8:00-9:00 p.m., ABC self starter "Once Upon a Time" beat out CBS' football-driven combo of "60 Minutes" and "Amazing Race" by 11% (3.5/8) and Fox's "The Simpsons" into the series premiere of "Allen Gregory" by 22% among Adults 18-49 (3.2/8), while winning its hour outright among Women 18-49 (5.2/13). Despite the fierce competition, the new ABC drama gained nearly 1.0 million viewers (11.2 million to 12.1 million) and 8% among Adults 18-49 (3.7/9 to 4.0/9) from its first half-hour to its second half-hour.

* Based on the Fast Affiliate Ratings, ABC's "Once Upon a Time" retained an impressive 100% of its big week-ago series premiere audience in Adults 18-49 and Adults 18-34, while growing over its debut telecast with Teens 12-17. In fact among young adults, "Once Upon a Time" demonstrated the strongest debut retention (Week 1 to Week 2) for any ABC fall drama launch in 6 years - since September 2005.

* "Once Upon a Time" ran neck-and-neck with Fox's traditionally high rated annual "The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror" Halloween episode as the night's No. 1 entertainment show in Adults 18-49, and was Sunday's No. 1 entertainment program for the 2nd week in a row in Women 18-49.

"Desperate Housewives" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Continuing to grow, ABC's "Desperate Housewives" (3.1/7) paced well ahead of its non-sports competition in the 9 o'clock hour among Adults 18-49, defeating CBS' "Amazing Race"/"The Good Wife" (leading CBS for the 6th week running) by 35% (2.3/5) and Fox's animated comedies ("Family Guy"/"The Cleveland Show") by 22% (2.8/6).

* Rising in viewers and young adults for the 2nd straight week, ABC's Desperate Housewives marked best-since-premiere results on both Nielsen measures. The ABC drama tied season-high numbers with key Women (W18-49/W25-54).

"Pan Am" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
During the 10 o'clock hour, ABC's Pan Am built week to week in Adults 18-49 (+6% - 1.9/5 vs. 1.8/5), Adults 18-34 (+7% - 1.5/4 vs. 1.4/4), Women 18-34 (+11% - 2.1/6 vs. 1.9/5) and Women 18-49 (+8% - 2.7/6 vs. 2.5/6), equaling its highest ratings in 4 weeks (since 10/2/11) across each Nielsen measure. In fact, it was the new drama's 2nd consecutive week of audience gains with Adults 18-34 and key Women (W18-34/W18-49).

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 42% currently, from 38% at the same point in 2010. 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.

 

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