ABC's Thursday Dramas Open with Across the Board Gains

ABC earned second place on season premiere Thursday among adults 18-49, leading Fox by 4% and NBC by 71%. The network won the night among women 18-49.

During the 8 o'clock hour against Fox's THE X FACTOR and CBS' top-rated comedies (THE BIG BANG THEORY/TWO AND A HALF MEN), the series debut of ABC's LAST RESORT outdelivered its NBC competition (SNL PRIMETIME ELECTION/UP ALL NIGHT) by 4.2 million viewers and by 22% in adults 18-49. In addition, the new ABC drama attracted nearly as large an audience as THE X FACTOR, pacing within 113k total viewers. Despite the competition, LAST RESORT built by 8% in viewers and by 15% in adults 18-49 from its first half-hour to its second half-hour.

Up over the year-ago debut of CHARLIE'S ANGELS in adults 18-49 (+5%), LAST RESORT stood as ABC's biggest Thursday drama debut in 3 years with young adults - since 9/24/09. In addition, the new series scored ABC's highest adult 18-49 rating in the hour in more than 8 months - since 1/12/12.

Building on its lead-in at 9pm in adults 18-49 (+95%), ABC's 9th season premiere of GREY'S ANATOMY led its competition by wide margins and finished as Thursday's definitive #1 drama. During the 9 o'clock hour, ABC's GREY'S ANATOMY outdelivered CBS' PERSON OF INTEREST by 48%, Fox's GLEE by 72% and NBC's comedies by 95% (THE OFFICE/PARKS AND RECREATION). Additionally, GREY'S stood as Thursday's top-rated series with adults 18-34.

Rising over its year-ago season opener in viewers (+11%) and young adults (+5%), GREY'S tallied its 2nd-highest numbers since March 2011.

During the 10 o'clock hour, ABC's sophomore season premiere of SCANDAL ranked #1 in its hour with adults 18-34 and women 18-34.

ABC's SCANDAL grew over its freshman season premiere (4/5/12) across all key adults: adults 18-34 (+31%), adults 18-49 (+10%) adults 25-54 (+8%). In fact the show marked series highs in both adults 18-34 and women 18-34, while hitting its 2nd-best-ever adult 18-49 and adult 25-54 numbers.

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