ABC Dominates Wednesday with “The 47th Annual CMA Awards,” Posting its First Win on the Opening Wednesday of Any Sweep in Six Years
“CMA Awards” Surges by Double Digits in Viewers and Young Adults, Drawing its Biggest Audience in Four Years and Second Largest in Eight Years
Wednesday’s Most Social TV Show, CMA Awards Earns 1.67 Million Tweets
ABC Wednesday Prime (8:00-11:00 p.m. – 16.6 million and 4.7/13 in AD18-49):
With its three-hour broadcast of “The 47th Annual CMA Awards,” ABC dominated Wednesday night, winning each half-hour and outdelivering runner-up CBS (9.3 million and 2.2/6) by 7.3 million viewers and by 114% in Adults 18-49. In fact, with the broad-appealing Country Music gala, the Network swept the evening, finishing No. 1 in Viewers, all key Adult demos (AD18-34/AD18-49/AD25-54), Teens 12-17 and Kids 2-11. In viewers and young adults, it was ABC’s first victory on the opening Wednesday of any sweep in six years – since November 2007.
  • ABC is delivering its most competitive Wednesday start to a season in six years (since 2007), finishing No. 1 in Adults 18-49 on five of the first seven weeks.
  • “The 47th Annual CMA Awards” was up by double digits from last year’s telecast (13.7 million and 3.8/10 on 11/1/12), gaining 21% in Total Viewers and 24% in Adults 18-49. The program drew its biggest audience in four years, representing its second-most-watched broadcast in eight years – since 2009 and 2005, respectively. In addition, the show shot up 41% year to year with Men 18-34 (3.1/10 vs. 2.2/8) to a nine-year high– since 2004.
  • The Network marked its most-watched Wednesday in four years and its top Adult 18-49 number on the evening in two years– since 11/11/09 and 11/9/11, respectively.
  • The CMA Awards was Wednesday’s No. 1 most social TV program with 1,667,680 tweets and 2.8 tweets per unique user.
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 46% 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.
Source: The Nielsen Company (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings), 11/06/13. Socialguide, Total Tweets for +/- 3hrs during telecast.