Billboard Music Awards Hit 12-Year High on ABC

With the season finale of America's Funniest Home Videos and the 2013 Billboard Music Awards, ABC dominated the final Sunday of the season in Adults 18-49 (#1 in all 8 half-hours), beating Fox's night of season finales by 72%, CBS with two hours of 60 Minutes and a Country Music special by 138% and NBC with the 2-hour season ender of Celebrity Apprentice by 182%. The Billboard Music Awards stood as the night's highest-rated TV show with young adults. ABC was also the most-watched network overall on the evening, leading runner-up CBS by 1.1 million viewers. Excluding only the night of the Academy Awards, ABC marked its most-watched Sunday since November (since 11/18/12) and posted a season high with Adults 18-49.

Surging week to week in viewers (+11%) and young adults (+29%), ABC's season finale of America's Funniest Home Videos scored 14-week highs on both measures (since 2/10/13), while tying a season-high in Adults 18-49. The show was up over last season's finale by 19% in viewers and by 20% in young adults.

ABC's 3-hour broadcast of The 2013 Billboard Music Awards posted an across-the-board victory, winning its 8-11pm time period with Total Viewers, all key Adults (AD18-34/AD18-49/AD25-54), Teens 12-17 and Kids 2-11. Spiking year to year in Total Viewers (+28%) and Adults 18-49 (+33%), The Billboard Music Awards drew its biggest audience in 12 years and its highest Adult 18-49 rating in 10 years - since 2001 and 2003, respectively.

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