ABC's Comedy Repeats Take Wednesday Night in Ratings

On Wednesday night with its 2-hour repeat comedy block and a recap clip show for "Nashville," ABC (1.5/4) beat out Fox's original lineup ("Mobbed"/"Mobbed" = 1.1/3) by 36% in Adults 18-49 and tied CBS' repeat schedule (1.5/4).

"The Middle" (8:00-8:30 p.m.)
At 8:00 p.m., against NBC's original "Whitney" and Fox's original "Mobbed," ABC's repeat "The Middle" ranked No. 1 in both Total Viewers (6.6 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.8/5).

* "The Middle" marked its most-watched repeat in nearly 2 years and its top replay Adult 18-49 number in more than 1 year - since 2/2/11 and 11/30/11, respectively.

"The Neighbors" (8:30-9:00 p.m.)
At 8:30 p.m., a repeat of ABC's "The Neighbors" (4.8 million) drew a bigger audience than NBC's first-run "Guys with Kids" (4.4 million) and beat out the second half hour of Fox's "Mobbed" by 1.5 million viewers (4.8 million vs. 3.3 million) and by 18% in Adults 18-49 (1.3/3 vs. 1.1/3).

* "The Neighbors" posted the series' best repeat performance yet in viewers and young adults.

"Modern Family" (9:00-9:30 p.m.)
ABC's encore "Modern Family" won the 9:00 p.m. half-hour in Adults 18-49, outdelivering NBC's original "L&O: SVU" (+5% - 2.1/5 vs. 2.0/5).

"Suburgatory" (9:30-10:00 p.m.)
In the 9:30 p.m. half-hour, ABC's encore "Suburgatory" defeated the final half-hour of Fox's original "Mobbed" by 1.3 million viewers (4.2 million vs. 2.9 million) and by 8% in Adults 18-49 (1.3/3 vs. 1.2/3).

* In viewers and young adults, "Suburgatory" earned its top repeat numbers in over 8 months - since 4/25/12.

"Nashville: The Whole Story" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
During the 10 o'clock hour ahead of its return next week to original, ABC's "Nashville: The Whole Story" recap show spiked over last week's encore by 44% in Total Viewers (3.9 million vs. 2.7 million) and by 83% in Adults 18-49 (1.1/3 vs. 0.6/2).

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 46% currently, from 43% at the same point in 2011. 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), 01/02/13.