ABC Is Only Network to Grow Its Audience on Wednesday Year Over Year

ABC Wednesday Prime (8:00-11:00 p.m. - 6.5 million and 1.8/6 in AD18-49): For the 3rd consecutive week this season, ABC earned the No. 2 position on Wednesday in Adults 18-49 (1.8/6) to an "Empire"-fueled Fox, beating CBS by an even greater 29% ("Survivor"/"Criminal Minds"/"Code Black" = 1.4/5) and NBC by 38% ("Blindspot"/"L&O: SVU"/"Chicago PD" = 1.3/5). Closing the gap week to week with Fox's "Empire" on the night by 2-tenths, ABC's "Modern Family" stood as Wednesday's No. 2 TV show in Adults 18-49 (2.2/8).

Continuing to gain audience on the night, ABC's Wednesday increased year to year in Total Viewers (+7%) and held even with Adults 18-49 (6.0 million and 1.8/6 on 10/7/15). In fact, ABC was the only major net to gain viewers and each of the other nets declined in Adults 18-49 from the year-ago night.

ABC's Wednesday 8:00-10:00 p.m. comedy block remained steady week to week in Adults 18-49 (1.8/7 vs. 1.9/7), as "Speechless" (1.8/6) and "black-ish" (1.6/5) held 100% of their week-ago scores in Adults 18-49.

Tying CBS' "Survivor" for No. 1 from 8:00-9:00 p.m., ABC's "The Goldbergs" (1.8/7) and "Speechless" (1.8/6) delivered 100% Adult 18-49 audience retention between the two shows in the hour

For the 3rd straight week, "Designated Survivor" recruited audience from its lead-in at 10:00 pm (+1.7 million) and won the final hour on Wednesday among Total Viewers (7.1 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.6/6), beating NBC's "Chicago PD" (6.2 million and 1.3/5) and CBS' "Code Black" (5.9 million and 1.0/4). Greatly improving its time slot, the new ABC drama boosted its hour from the year ago-night (4.4 million and 1.0/3 for "Nashville" on 10/7/15) by 61% in Total Viewers and 60% in Adults 18-49.

"Designated Survivor" Sees Bigger L+3 Lifts in Week 2: Last Wednesday's telecast of "Designated Survivor" (on 9/28/16) picked up more Total Viewers in TV playback than its week-earlier debut, growing by +5.6 million viewers after 3 days of playback (vs. +5.3 million the prior week). In fact, "Designated Survivor" claims the two biggest Total Viewer L+3 increases on any network of the new season. The new ABC drama matched its debut playback lift among Adults 18-49 with a +1.5 rating point jump over its L+SD rating, representing a +83% SPIKE (compared to +68% for its debut).

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 10/5/16.

Photo credit: ABC/Nicole Wilder