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Adult Swim Takes Top Spot in Adults 18-24 on Cable, Week Ending 12/23

Related: Adult Swim, Cartoon Network

Adult Swim's Total Day performance last week ranked #1 among adults 18-24, 18-34 & 18-49, as well as men 18-24 & 18-34 on basic cable. Compared to the same week in 2011, average Total Day delivery grew across all key adults and men, ranging between 6% and 26%.

Adult Swim ranked among the Top 5 basic cable networks in Prime Time (Broadcast definition) delivery of adults 18-34 among basic cable networks. Compared to the same week in 2011, average Prime Time delivery grew among all targeted young adults and men, ranging between 1% and 31%.

Saturday premiere episodes of Naruto (12:30 a.m.) and Samurai 7 (1:30 a.m.), along with the Sunday 10:30 p.m. presentation of The Cleveland Show saw double and triple-digit gains vs. their respective year-ago time periods across all key demos.

Adult Swim programming--including Family Guy, Robot Chicken and American Dad--accounted for 21 of the Top 50 telecasts on basic cable for the week among adults 18-34, more than any other network.

Cartoon Network
Across the fourth week of December, Cartoon Network ranked as the #1 destination among all boys 2-11, 6-11 & 9-14 on Friday Night (7-9 p.m.). Among the highlights, Cartoon Planet at 8 p.m. posted double-digit delivery gains across targeted kids and boys demos, ranging between 23% and 90% vs. the same time period last year.

Monday night's schedule of original animated comedies (7-9 p.m.) continued its powerful performance streak, earning across-the-board ratings and delivery growth among kids and boys, ranging between 4% and 20% vs. last year's time period.

Saturday morning's action-adventure line-up included premiere episodes of Pokemon BW: Rival Destinies (8:30 a.m.) and Ben 10: Omniverse (9 a.m.), which improved all kid and boy deliveries vs. last year's time period between 7% and 119%.

Cartoon Network's Thursday afternoon airing of Diary of a Wimpy Kid (4-6 p.m.) ranked as the #1 telecast of the day among boys 6-11 & 9-14, while ranking as the #1 telecast of the week among boys 9-14.

TBS
The Big Bang Theory on TBS averaged 2.9 million viewers in primetime last week and accounted for 16 of basic cable's Top 20 most-watched sitcom telecasts for the week. In the demos, The Big Bang Theory claimed 15 of the Top 20 sitcom telecasts with adults 18-34 and 16 of the Top 20 with adults 18-49. The Big Bang Theory is on track to finish 2012 as basic cable's #1 off-net series.

Last week, TBS's CONAN delivered 1.0 million viewers and garnerEd Strong growth among key demos, with adults 18-34 (330,000) up 17% compared to the prior week and adults 18-49 (628,000) up 6%.

truTV
truTV's hit series Hardcore Pawn attracted 2.7 million viewers on Tuesday, Dec. 18, and ranked among the Top 5 programs in its 9 p.m. timeslot with adults 18-34, men 18-34 and men 18-49. It also fueled truTV to a Top 10 finish for the night among basic cable networks among key adult and male demos, as well as total viewers.

truTV's Full Throttle Saloon launched its fourth season Wednesday, Dec. 19, at 9 p.m. with more than 1.5 million viewers, including 404,000 adults 18-34; 948,000 adults 18-49; 198,000 men 18-34; and 527,000 men 18-49. Competitively, the season premiere of Full Throttle Saloon ranked as one of the Top 5 cable entertainment programs in its timeslot with adults 18-49 and men 18-49.

truTV's Black Gold began drilling into its fifth season with 1 million viewers; 302,000 adults 18-34; 631,000 adults 18-49; 113,000 men 18-34; and 330,000 men 18-49.

Thursday night, truTV's prank comedy series Impractical Jokers snared 1.6 million viewers and ranked among cable's Top 5 entertainment programs in the 10 p.m. timeslot with men 18-49. The show also scored a remarkably low median age of only 32, helping truTV rank among ad-supported cable's Top 5 networks for the night with adults 18-34.

TNT
TNT's Rizzoli & Isles drew 3.4 million viewers on Dec. 18, including 891,000 adults 18-49 and more than 1.1 million adults 25-54. The show was basic cable's #1 program for the entire day in household delivery, with 2.6 million.

The penultimate episode of TNT's Leverage garnered more than 2.2 million viewers on Dec. 18. Among key demos, the caper drama drew 733,000 adults 18-49 and 928,000 adults 25-54.

NBA TV
NBA TV's six NBA Fan Night presented by Sprint telecasts this season are averaging 488,000 total viewers, up 7% compared to last season (455,000 total viewers for 22 telecasts).