ABC Opens 2018 With Season Highs for SHARK TANK, AFV and 20/20

By: Jan. 09, 2018
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ABC Opens 2018 With Season Highs for SHARK TANK, AFV and 20/20

Primetime Ratings Report for the Week of January 1, 2018

ABC Opens 2018 With 6 of the Week's Top 20 Entertainment Series
ABC Wins First Night of 2018 With the Season 22 Premiere of 'The Bachelor'
ABC's 'The Middle' and 'Fresh Off the Boat' Score Best-Since- Premiere

Ratings

'Kevin (Probably) Saves the World' Gains 17% on Its First Telecast of 2018
'Match Game' Opens 50% Over Its May Finale to Its Best Results Since

February

'Truth and Lies: Waco' Grows From the Most Recent Installment of the
ABC Documentary Series With the Franchise's 2 nd Highest Ratings
ABC's 'Child Support' Debuts as Friday's Biggest Unscripted Series in 8 Years
'20/20' Soars to New Season Highs in Viewers, Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54
'America's Funniest Home Videos' Jumps 40% to Its Best Rating Since May

2015

'Shark Tank' Spikes to a Season High and Ties Its Top Rating Since April 2016
Week No. 15 ABC opened 2018 (w/o 1/1/18) with 6 of the Top 20 entertainment series in Adults 18-49:
"Modern Family" - No. 7, "The Bachelor," "The Middle" and "The Goldbergs" tied at No. 12, while "AFV" and "Shark Tank" scored season highs and tied at No. 17.

Monday
Featuring the Season 22 opener of "The Bachelor" and a repeat of "The Good Doctor" pilot episode, ABC stood as the No. 1 broadcaster on the first night of 2018 in Adults 18-49 (1.2/4), beating NBC's original/premiere lineup by 50% (0.8/2 for "The Wall"/"Better Late Than Never"/"Better Late Than Never") and Fox's original dramas by 71% (0.7/2 for "Lucifer"/"The Gifted"). In fact, ABC ranked No. 1 in each half-hour of the night with Adults 18-49.

-ABC's "The Bachelor" came back as Monday's No. 1 TV series with Adults 18-49, Adults
18-34 and across all key Women (W18-34/W18- 49/W25-54). "The Bachelor" (8:00-10:01 p.m. - 5.5 million and 1.5/5 in AD18-49): From 8:00-10:01 p.m., the season premiere of ABC's "The Bachelor" beat NBC in the 2-hour slot by 88% with "The Wall" and time period premiere of "Better Late Than Never" in Adults 18-49 (1.5/5 vs. 0.8/2).

-"The Bachelor" opener equaled a non-sports season high for ABC in the 2-hour time
period with Adults 18-49. "The Good Doctor-R" (10:01-11:00 p.m. - 4.1 million and 0.7/3 in AD18-49):

At 10:01 p.m., ABC's repeat of "The Good Doctor" pilot tied NBC's original "Better Late Than Never" as the No. 1 entertainment series in the hour in Total Viewers (4.1 million) and Adults 18-49 (0.7/3). Tuesday At 8:00 p.m., ABC's "The Middle" was up from its last telecast in mid-December (12/12/17) by 12% in Total Viewers (6.4 million vs. 5.7 million) and by 15% in Adults 18-49 (1.5/6 vs. 1.3/5), marking its most watched telecast in nearly 1 year and hitting a best-since- premiere young adult number - since 2/7/17 and 10/3/17. "The Middle" was Tuesday's No. 1 comedy.

-At 8:30 p.m., ABC's "Fresh Off the Boat" built on its most recent telecast by 8% in Total
Viewers (4.2 million vs. 3.9 million) and spiked 20% in Adults 18-49 (1.2/4 vs. 1.0/4) to a best- since-premiere young adult number - since 10/3/17.

At 9:00 p.m., ABC's "black-ish" outdrew Fox's debut of "LA to Vegas" by 5% in Total
Viewers (4.0 million vs. 3.8 million) and tied in Adults 18-49 (1.1/4). The ABC comedy
returned within 1-tenth of its last telecast in Adults 18-49, which was its highest number in 2 months - since 10/10/17.

At 9:30 p.m., ABC's repeat "Modern Family" beat Fox's original "The Mick" in both Total
Viewers (3.2 million vs. 2.3 million) and Adults 18-49 (0.9/3 vs. 0.8/3).

At 10:00 p.m., "Kevin (Probably) Saves the World" built over its last original telecast
(12/12/17) in Total Viewers (+4% - 2.6 million vs. 2.5 million) and surged 17% in Adults 18-49 (0.7/3 vs. 0.6/3), equaling its largest audience since early November - since 11/7/17.

Wednesday
With its comedies returning for their first telecasts of the new year and the season premiere of "Match Game," ABC ranked No. 2 on Wednesday in Adults 18-49 (1.3/5) to FOX with its premiere/debut lineup ("The X-Files"/"9- 1-1"). Despite the increased competition on the night, each of ABC's comedies returned even or steady after 3 weeks off with young adults: "The Goldbergs" (1.5/6 vs. 1.6/7), "Speechless" (1.1/4 vs. 1.2/5), "Modern Family" (1.7/6 vs. 1.7/7) and "American Housewife" (1.3/5 vs. 1.3/5).

At 9:00 p.m., ABC's "Modern Family" ranked No. 1 in its half-hour with Adults 18-49, tying Fox's debut of "9-1- 1." At 10:00 p.m., ABC's season premiere of "Match Game" shot up over its last telecast in May (on 5/14/17) by 38% in Total Viewers (3.6 million vs. 2.6 million) and by 50% in Adults 18-49 (0.9/4 vs. 0.6/2), topping its last 6 originals for its best numbers since February - since 2/22/17. "Match Game" tied CBS' "Criminal Minds" as the No. 2 entertainment series in the hour with Adults 18-49.

Thursday
"Truth and Lies: Waco" (9:00-11:00 p.m - 5.0 million and 1.1/4 in AD18-49):
Spiking over its lead-in at 9:00 p.m. (+79%/+57%/+78%) and airing against strong all-
original/debut competition, the ABC documentary "Truth and Lies: Waco" took 2 nd place among the broadcast networks in its 2-hour time period with Total Viewers (5.0 million), Adults 18-49 (1.1/4-tie) and Adults 25-54 (1.6/5). And at 10:00 p.m., "Truth and Lies" moved up to tie for No. 1 in Adults 18-49 (1.1/5) and Adults 25-54 (1.6/5), against originals of NBC's "Chicago Fire" and CBS' "S.W.A.T."

ABC's "Truth and Lies: Waco" grew across the board from the most recent "Truth and
Lies: The Murder of Laci Peterson" in September (4.6 million, 0.9/4 and 1.4/4 on 9/14/17), Gaining 9% in Total Viewers and jumping by 22% in Adults 18-49 and by 14% in Adults 25-
54. In fact, in both key Adult demos, "Waco" was the 2 nd highest of ABC's five "Truth and Lies" documentaries that have aired so far, behind only "Menendez Brothers" (on 1/5/17).

Friday
Featuring the debut of "Child Support" into the first airings of the new year for "S.H.I.E.L.D." and "20/20," ABC ranked No. 2 on Friday in Adults 18-49 (0.8/3-tie). The Net scored a 15-week high on the night, equaling a season best in a tie with season premiere Friday on 9/29/17. At 8:00 p.m., the series premiere of "Child Support" (4.4 million) opened as broadcast TV's most watched Friday unscripted debut in nearly 8 years - since "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" on 3/26/10. In addition, the new show tied for No. 1 in the hour in Adults 18-49 (0.9/4) at a 15-week high for ABC in the slot, matching the "Inhumans" debut in September (on 9/29/17).

At 9:01 p.m., ABC's "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." jumped 17% from its last telecast two
weeks earlier in Adults 18-49 (0.7/3 vs. 0.6/3 on 12/22/17) to tie a season high. Building over its lead-in at 10:01 p.m., ABC's "20/20" shot up week to week in Total Viewers (+83% - 4.2 million vs. 2.3 million), Adults 18-49 (+100% - 0.8/3 vs. 0.4/2) and Adults
25-54 (+120% - 1.1/4 vs. 0.5/2). The ABC newsmagazine delivered its most watched telecast this season and also set new season highs in each of the key Adult demos. "20/20" had the first interview with Gypsy Rose Blanchard from prison about her murder conviction in her mother's death and life with her mother.

Sunday
Opposite NBC's "Golden Globes" coverage and an NFL-overrun driven FOX on Sunday
evening, ABC's "America's Funniest Home Videos" and "Shark Tank" returned for their first telecasts in 1 month (since 12/3/17) with big gains and season highs. At 8:00 p.m. building on a repeat "AFV," ABC's "America's Funniest Home Videos" returned with double-digit growth in 2018 among Total Viewers (+33% - 6.1 million vs. 4.6
million) and Adults 18-49 (+40% - 1.4/5 vs. 1.0/3) to set new season highs on both measures. In fact, "AFV" shot up to an over 2 ½ year high with young adults - since 5/17/15. At 9:00 p.m., ABC's "Shark Tank" came back with a 27% jump in Total Viewers (4.7 million vs. 3.7 million) to draw its largest audience in 3 months (since 10/8/17) and a 56% spike in Adults 18-49 (1.4/4 vs. 0.9/3) to hit a new season high. In fact, "Shark Tank" matched its highest young adult rating since April 2016 - since Friday, 4/29/16.
In the 10 o'clock hour, a second installment of ABC's "Shark Tank" topped its last original
in the slot (on 11/12/17) by 8% with viewers (3.9 million vs. 3.6 million) and by 38% with
young adults (1.1/4 vs. 0.8/3).

WEEK NO. 15: ADULTS 18-49 TOTAL VIEWERS
No.1 NBC 2.4 No.1 NBC 9,700,000
No.2 FOX 1.7 No.2 CBS 7,540,000
No.3 ABC 1.0 No.3 FOX 5,690,000
No.3 CBS 1.0 No.4 ABC 4,230,000
No.5 CW 0.2 No.5 CW 750,000



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