ABC's BACHELOR Premiere Draws 8% More Viewers Than NBC

With the season opener of The Bachelor and Castle opposite the BCS Championship Game on ESPN, ABC was Monday's most-watched broadcast net, outdrawing runner-up NBC with its Monday premiere of The Biggest Loser and the series debut of Deception by 1.3 million viewers. ABC also led its broadcast competition across all key Women and tied for the night's lead in Adults 18-34.

Building in each half-hour from 8-10pm, ABC's season premiere of The Bachelor drew 8% more viewers in the 2-hour time period than NBC's The Biggest Loser. The Bachelor stood as Monday's #1 TV series among Adults 18-34 and across the Women demos (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54) and delivered ABC's highest ratings in the time period in 5 months in Adults 18-34 and Women 18-34 - since 7/9/12.

During the 10 o'clock hour, ABC's Castle was up 12% in Adults 18-49 over its last original 5 weeks ago on 12/3/12. Gaining on its lead-in to finish as Monday's most-watched TV series overall, ABC's Castle outdrew NBC's series debut of Deception by 3.0 million viewers in the time period. Castle also outdelivered the NBC drama premiere with Adults 25-54 (+4%), Men 18-49 (+8%) and Men 25-54 (+29%) to rank as the top-rated series in the hour.