ABC Wins Thursday with THE CMA Awards

With its broadcast of The 46th Annual CMA Awards, ABC won Thursday night, beating out runner-up CBS by 7% in Total Viewers and by 19% in Adults 18-49. ABC ranked #1 in 5 of 6 half-hours of the night in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49. In fact the Network swept the evening, finishing #1 in viewers and all key Adult demos (A18-34/A18-49/A25-54), while standing as the highest-rated broadcaster with Teens 12-17 and Kids 2-11.

Please note: ABC's CMA Awards moved from its traditional Wednesday night airing to Thursday this year. Also, due to the ongoing impact of Sandy with continuing power outages and preemptions in the east, year-to-year comparisons for the CMA Awards are not valid apples-to-apples comparisons.

· ABC marked its most-watched non-sports Thursday in well over 3 years and its top non-sports Adult 18-49 number on the evening in nearly 2-1/2 years - since 9/24/09 and 5/20/10, respectively.

· ABC scored its highest Adult 18-49 number on any night this season.

· The 2012 CMA Awards on ABC topped CBS' 2012 telecast of the ACM Awards in April (on 4/1/12) in both viewers (+4%) and young adults (+23%).