ABC FAMILY Has Most-Watched Year on Record

By: Jan. 03, 2013
Enter Your Email to Unlock This Article

Plus, get the best of BroadwayWorld delivered to your inbox, and unlimited access to our editorial content across the globe.




Existing user? Just click login.

In another standout year, 2012 wrapped as ABC Family's most-watched year on record in Prime in target female demos Women 18-34 (280,000) and Women 18-49 (449,000), and qualified as the network's #2 year of all time in Adults 18-34 (392,000), Viewers 12-34 (592,000) and Females 12-34 (435,000). Impressively, 2012 marked ABC Family's 9th consecutive year of growth in Women 18-49 and 7th straight year in Women 18-34.

Competitively, for the first time in the network's history ABC Family emerged as the year's #1 cable TV network in Females 12-34, recorded its highest annual Prime rank ever in Adults 18-34 (#7) and Women 18-34 (#2), matched last year's all-time high in Women 18-49 (#3), and for the 4th straight year Top 10 ranks were achieved in Total Viewers (#10) and Adults 18-49 (#9). In fact, 2012 also marked the 4th consecutive year The Walt Disney Company owned 3 of cable TV's Top 10 networks in Total Viewers, with Disney Channel (#2 - 2.4 million), ESPN (#3 - 2.3 million) and ABC Family (#10 - 1.4 million).

"2012 was a great year for ABC Family," said Michael Riley, President ABC Family. "We created a Wednesday night comedy block with the launch of 'Baby Daddy,' the #1 new comedy of the summer; broke social media records with 'Pretty Little Liars,' the #1 most tweeted about 1-hour episode in TV history and the #1 scripted cable TV series of the year in core female Millennials; while our annual '25 Days of Christmas' programming event gifted new records for the channel. Next week WE return with all-new episodes of 'Switched at Birth,' 'Bunheads,' 'Pretty Little Liars' and 'Lying Game' to continue this wonderful momentum."

"Pretty Little Liars," ABC Family's #1 series on record, stood as cable TV's #1 scripted series of 2012 in Females 12-34 (2.2 million/4.9 rating), and the #2 scripted cable TV series in Women 18-34 (1.2 million/3.6 rating) and Viewers 12-34 (2.5 million/2.8 rating).

In fact, a hit across social media outlets, the "Pretty Little Liars" summer finale impressively still holds the record for a single tweeted episode (1.52 million interactions), and overall finished #6 on Twitter's 2012 Trend List (10.5 million - #1 among scripted TV dramas)

"Baby Daddy," ABC Family's #1 comedy of all time, emerged as the #1 new cable comedy of Summer 2012 in Women 18-34 (557,000/1.7 rating) and Females 12-34 (792,000/1.7 rating), ranking #1 across all cable TV on Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m. in the key demos, as well as Adults 18-34 (689,000/1.0 rating) and Viewers 12-34 (965,000/1.1 rating).

The December 2 airing of "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (7:00 - 9:30 p.m.) became the network's #3 telecast ever in Total Viewers (6.3 million) and Adults 18-49 (3.0 million/2.4 rating), and remains the #1 cable TV movie of 2012/13 to date in Adults 18-34 (1.9 million/2.7 rating), Viewers 12-34 (2.5 million/2.7 rating) and Females 12-34 (1.7 million/3.6 rating).

4Q 2012

Powered by "13 Nights of Halloween," "Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas" and "25 Days of Christmas" events, 4Q 2012 became ABC Family's #1 quarter on record in Prime in Total Viewers (1.7 million), Adults 18-34 (449,000), Adults 18-49 (803,000) and Women 18-49 (516,000), and its #2 quarter of all time in Women 18-34 (300,000).

Competitively, ABC Family stood as the #1 cable TV network for the first time in the network's history in Women 18-34 (based on 000s), achieved its highest quarter rank ever in Women 18-49 (#2), and matched its highest rank ever in Adults 18-49 (#5).

December 2012

Thanks to a record-setting "25 Days of Christmas," December 2012 wrapped as ABC Family's most-watched month in the network's history in Prime in Adults 18-49 (1.2 million), Women 18-49 (734,000) and Women 18-34 (413,000), and its #2 month of all time in Total Viewers (2.5 million), Adults 18-34 (633,000) and Females 12-34 (579,000).

For the 4th consecutive December, ABC Family ranked as cable TV's #1 network in Women 18-34 and Women 18-49, was #1 for the 2nd straight December in Viewers 12-34 in Females 12-34, and achieved its highest competitive rank ever in Total Viewers (#3), Adults 18-34 (#2) and Adults 18-49 (#2).

Impressively, this represented the 6th consecutive December The Walt Disney Company owned 3 of cable's Top 4 networks in Total Viewers, with ESPN (#1 - 3.3 million), ABC Family (#3 - 2.5 million) and Disney Channel (#4 -- 2.4 million).

"25 Days of Christmas 2012"

In its 15th year, one of the year's biggest events across all cable TV, ABC Family's "25 Days of Christmas," soared to record levels in Total Viewers (2.8 million), Adults 18-34 (701,000), Women 18-34 (456,000), Adults 18-49 (1.3 million), Women 18-49 (809,000), Viewers 12-34 (979,000) and Females 12-34 (640,000), driving #1 ranks in the daypart across the demos and powering weekly Prime highs during the "The Mistle-Tones'" premiere week (Dec. 3-9, 2012). Additionally, "25 Days of Christmas" reached over 100 million unique Total Viewers for the 6th consecutive year (106.9 million).



Videos