ABC Draws Best Ratings Since 'Premiere Monday'

Monday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)
ABC's lineup of "DWTS" and "Castle" lifted the Net its largest overall audience (12.9 million) since May and best young adult performance (2.3/5) since season premiere Monday – since 9/24/12. ABC topped its broadcast rivals for the 6th consecutive week this season in Total Viewers, leading all 6 half-hours and outdelivering runner-up NBC by 1.9 million viewers (11.0 million – "The Voice"/"Revolution"), CBS by 5.9 million viewers (7.0 million – "HIMYM"/"Partners"/"2 Broke Girls"/"Mike & Molly"/"Hawaii Five-0") and Fox by 10.9 million viewers (2.0 million – "The X-Factor").

"Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars" (8:00-10:01 p.m.)
Gaining viewers in each half-hour, ABC's "Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars" (13.9 million) stood as Monday's most-watched TV series for the 4th week in a row, leading NBC's "The Voice" (12.4 million) in head-to-head competition by 1.5 million viewers.

"Castle" (10:00-11:01 p.m.)
Monday's most-watched scripted TV show in its 5th straight telecast, ABC's "Castle" (10.8 million) topped the 10 o'clock hour with its largest margin to date over NBC's "Revolution" of 2.9 million viewers (7.9 million).

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.

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