ABC's SCANDAL Delivers One of its Best-Ever Repeat Performances

Building week to week in viewers (+47%) and young adults (+33%), the season finale of ABC's "Wipeout" (8:00-9:00 p.m.) drew the show's biggest audience (4.4 million) in 7 weeks and equaled its highest Adult 18-49 number (1.2/4) since its season premiere in early May - since 8/1/13 and 5/9/13, respectively.

Versus its year-ago finale (3.9 million and 1.2/4 on 9/20/12), "Wipeout" was up year to year by 13% in Total Viewers and held even in Adults 18-49.

"Grey's Anatomy" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
One week before its season premiere (on Thursday, 9/26/13 from 9:00-11:00 p.m.), ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" (5.1 million and 1.4/4) marked its most-watched repeat telecast in 3 years and its best young adult number in 1-1/2 years - since 9/16/10 and 3/8/12, respectively.

"Scandal" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
In the 10:00 p.m. hour among Adults 18-49, ABC's repeat "Scandal" (1.2/4) beat an "NBC News Special" by 20% (1.0/3) and CBS' repeat "Elementary" by 20% (1.0/3). In viewers and young adults, "Scandal" earned its 2nd-highest-ever repeat numbers.

A note about increasing DVR penetration and year-to-year rating comparisons: Year-to-year rating comparisons based on the Live + Same Day data stream are distorted by the level of DVR penetration in the Nielsen sample, which has jumped up to 48% currently, from 45% at the same point in 2012. More viewers are watching shows on their own timetables, which may not be reflected in the overnight next-day numbers. The only truly valid year-to-year comparison would be one based on the Live + 7 Day metric, once those stats are released by Nielsen.

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