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ABC Skyrockets to its Strongest Week in Late-Night in Nearly 1 Year

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ABC Late-Night (Monday – Friday)
With strong turnouts from "Nightline" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live" during the week of October 29, 2012, ABC shot up week to week by 18% in Total Viewers (2.881 million vs. 2.443 million) and by 22% in Adults 18-49 (959,000 vs. 788,000) to score its best numbers in late-night since last November (excluding NBA finals weeks) – since the week of 11/21/11. Together, "Nightline" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live" form ABC's winning late-night strategy of airing news and entertainment programming.

ABC grew its overall audience over the year-ago week (2.416 million and 857,000 on w/o 10/31/11) for the 3rd week in a row (+19%), while improving year to year by 12% in Adults 18-49.

For the 6th week running, ABC stood as the most-watched network in late-night (2.881 million), outdrawing CBS by 13% (2.553 million) and NBC by 30% (2.213 million).

For the 3rd straight week and 5th time in 6 weeks, ABC was also the No. 1 network in Adults 18-49 (959,000), holding double-digit advantages over both CBS (+26% - 764,000) and NBC (+31% - 732,000).

"Nightline" (Monday – Friday)
With coverage of Hurricane Sandy during the week of October 29, 2012, ABC's "Nightline" finished as the No. 1 program in late-night with season-high numbers in Total Viewers (4.203 million), Adults 25-54 (1.571 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.190 million), according to Nielsen Media Research. In fact, "Nightline" drew its most-watched week in nearly 1 year and best in the key adult demos in 4 months – since weeks of 11/21/11, 6/11/12 and 6/18/12, respectively.

On Monday (10/29/12), "Nightline" scored its most-watched telecast (4.984 million) in 5 months and best Adults 25-54 number (1.717 million) in 3 months – since 5/22/12 and 7/20/12, respectively.

Season to date, "Nightline" ranks No. 1 in late-night among Total Viewers and Adults 25-54, ahead of both NBC's "The Tonight Show" and CBS' "The Late Show." This marks the 3rd straight year that the ABC program is taking the top spot in both measures.

"Jimmy Kimmel Live" (Monday – Friday)
Airing from Brooklyn, New York during the week of October 29, 2012, ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" grew over the prior week by 19% in Total Viewers (2.298 million vs. 1.930 million) to draw its biggest overall audience in almost 1 year – since w/o 11/21/11. In fact, the Brooklyn homecoming week marked "JKL's" 2nd-most-watched week in its nearly 10-year history, behind only last year's Thanksgiving week (w/o 11/21/11). "JKL" also surged week to week by 28% in Adults 18-49 (857,000 vs. 670,000) to deliver its strongest non-NBA finals week in nearly 4 years – since w/o 11/3/08.

In addition, "JKL" delivered huge gains over the year-ago week (1.872 million and 714,000 w/o 10/31/11), soaring year to year by 23% in Total Viewers and by 20% in Adults 18-49.

During the week, ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" stood as the No. 3 talk show in late-night in both Total Viewers (2.298 million) and Adults 18-49 (857,000), behind only CBS' "The Late Show with David Letterman" (3.447 million and 944,000) and NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (3.426 million and 971,000). In fact, "JKL" scored its most competitive finish ever with NBC's "Tonight Show" and CBS' "The Late Show" during a non-NBA finals week among Adults 18-49, trailing just 87,000 young adult viewers behind the CBS program and 114,000 behind the NBC program.

ABC's "JKL" (M-F 12:00 a.m.) topped NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (M-F 12:35 a.m.) by solid double-digit margins in Total Viewers (+26% - 2.298 million vs. 1.819 million) and Adults 18-49 (+19% - 857,000 vs. 718,000), drawing a larger overall audience than the NBC late-night program on all 6 weeks of the new season to date.

ABC's "JKL" dominated CBS' "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (M-F 12:35 a.m.) by its largest margins of the season in both Total Viewers (+39% - 2.298 million vs. 1.659 million) and Adults 18-49 (+47% - 857,000 vs. 584,000), beating the CBS late-night program on each of the 6 weeks of the new season. In fact, "JKL" has drawn a bigger overall audience than "Ferguson" in 29 of the 30 days of the season.

Featuring a first-time appearance by Jimmy Kimmel's idol, David Letterman, on Wednesday (10/31/12), "Jimmy Kimmel Live" delivered its highest-rated telecast in Adults 18-49 (984,000) on any night since June – since 6/19/12. In fact, excluding June's NBA-finals led broadcasts, Wednesday's telecast was the show's strongest among young adults in nearly 1 year – since 11/22/11. In addition, it was "JKL's" most-watched Wednesday telecast in its 10-year history (2.365 million) and its top-rated on the night among Adults 18-49 in 5 years – since 10/24/07.

Featuring guests Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert on its third day broadcasting from Brooklyn (Thursday, 11/1/12), "JKL" was up over the prior day by 7% in Total Viewers to attract its biggest overall audience in almost 1 year (2.529 million) – since 11/22/11. In fact, Thursday's telecast ranked among "JKL's" Top 10 most-watched ever (No. 7). In addition, the first-time visits by the Comedy Central hosts gave the ABC late-night program its 2nd-largest Thursday audience in its 10 years.

Season to date (6 weeks), ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" is up over the same point last season by 6% in Total Viewers (1.885 million vs. 1.786 million), standing as the only late-night broadcast talk show to grow its overall audience year over year.