ABC Takes Friday Night in Adults 18-49

By: Tyler Peterson May. 11, 2013

With a repeat Shark Tank, an original Shark Tank and 20/20 up against season finale programming on each of the other nets, ABC led Friday in Adults 18-49 by strong double-digit advantages over CBS (+17%), NBC (+56%) and FOX (+56%). ABC's Shark Tank stood as Friday's #1 series in Adults 18-49 and 20/20 finished a strong #2. ABC's 20/20 was also once again Friday's #1 newsmagazine in viewers and key adults (AD18-49/AD25-54), leading both NBC's Dateline at 9pm and Rock Center at 10pm. ABC is the #1 network on Friday this season in Adults 18-49, gaining 13% year to year to its best delivery on the night in 4 years - since the 2008/09 season.

From 8-9pm, ABC's repeat Shark Tank beat out NBC's finale of Fashion Star by 40% in Adults 18-49.

Building sharply on its lead-in (+157%) and growing week to week (+6%), ABC's Shark Tank won the 9 o'clock hour by wide margins in Adults 18-49, beating NBC's Dateline by 64%, CBS' finale of Vegas by 100% and Fox's finale of Touch by 200%. Continuing to deliver its strongest season ever, Shark Tank was up over its performance on the same night last May in viewers (+9%) and young adults (+6%).

ABC's 20/20 took first place the 10 o'clock hour for the 2nd week in a row with Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54, dominating the season finale of CBS' Blue Bloods (+55%/+28%) and NBC's Rock Center with BrIan Williams (+42%/+53%) . In addition, 20/20 was Friday's #1 show in Adults 25-54, tied with Shark Tank. Covering the two biggest stories making headlines this week, 20/20 reported on the Jodi Arias murder case in Arizona and the three women freed from captivity in Ohio. Up for the 2nd week in a row with Total Viewers (+7%), Adults 18-49 (+6%) and Adults 25-54 (+10%), 20/20 delivered a 5-month high in the key Adult 25-54 news demo - since 11/30/12. The ABC newsmagazine was up by double digits over its delivery on the same night last May in Total Viewers (+29%), Adults 18-49 (+21%) and Adults 25-54 (+21%).