ABC's ONCE UPON A TIME Fall Finale Surges in Ratings

Opposite another big Sunday Night Football game (Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys) and a huge NFL primetime overrun on CBS, ABC grew its Sunday numbers week to week and beat out Fox on the night 3.1 million viewers and by 24% in Adults 18-49.

Gaining 12% in viewers week to week during the 7 o'clock hour against the NFL overrun, ABC's America's Funniest Home Videos posted its most-watched broadcast of the season to pull in its biggest audience in nearly 9 months - since 3/14/12.

AFHV built sharply year to year, besting its year-ago telecast by 23% in Total Viewers and by 14% in Adults 18-49.

At 8pm, the fall finale of ABC's ONCE UPON A TIME surged over its Adult 18-49 lead-in (+94%) to rank #1 against its non-sports competition and stand as Sunday's highest-rated scripted broadcast series. In addition, the ABC drama stood as the #1 TV program in its time period for the 2nd week in a row with key Women (W18-34/W18-49). ABC's Once Upon a Time scores substantial gains via time-shifted playback, spiking over its preliminary numbers by 3.1 million viewers and by 1.4 Adult 18-49 rating points (+42%) in the final L+7 Day ratings.

· Increasing over the prior week, Once Upon a Time attracted its biggest audience since the beginning of November - since 11/4/12. In addition, the ABC drama was up week to week in Men 18-34 (+6%), Men 18-49 (+15%) and Kids 2-11 (+30%), while holding 100% of its National Adult 18-49 rating and up 3% over its week-ago Fast Affiliate young adult rating.

Up week to week in the 9 o'clock hour among Adults 18-49 (+9%), ABC's fall finale of Revenge beat out its NFL-fueled competition on CBS (Amazing Race/The Good Wife) by 9% and topped Fox's animated comedies (Family Guy/American Dad) by 20%. In fact, the ABC sophomore outdelivered CBS' competing drama The Good Wife for the 9th straight telecast this season. Like its lead-in, Revenge surges in TV playback this season, jumping by 3.0 million viewers and by 1.3 Adult 18-49 rating points (+48%) from its first-reported numbers to its L+7 ratings.

· Revenge built over the previous week in Total Viewers (+10%), Adults 18-49 (+9%) and Adults 18-34 (+6%), earning its best number in a month on the latter measure - since 11/4/12.

· Season to date, Revenge is up from the same point in its freshman frame in both Total Viewers (+2%) and Adults 18-49 (+3%).

Need more TV Theatre News in your life? Sign up for all the news on the Winter season, discounts & more...