ABC Wins All 4 Thursdays of November for the First Time in at Least 23 Years

The How to Get Away with Murder hit a 6-week high in Adults 18-49.

ABC won all 4 Thursdays of the November Sweep in Adults 18-49 for the first time in at least 23 years – since at least November 1991, which is the first sweep period in Nielsen's electronic database. Driven by strong turnouts for the winter finales for its Thursday drama lineup, ABC beat CBS by a season-best 38% (2.9/9 vs. 2.1/7). The network spiked over the year-ago Thursday (7.0 million and 2.1/6 on 11/21/13). On average, ABC's Thursday November Sweep delivery was up by 20% in Total Viewers and by 22% for its best numbers in 4 years – since 2010.

ABC's HTGAWM (3.1/10), Scandal (3.1/10) and Grey's Anatomy (2.4/7) continued their run as Thursday's Top 3 dramas in Adults 18-49 (over CBS' Elementary, NBC's Parenthood and Fox's Bones and Gracepoint). In addition, Scandal and HTGAWM trailed only CBS' The Big Bang Theory as the top-rated series of the night and are once again tracking as the week's top broadcast dramas in Adults 18-49.

Season to date, ABC's Thursday is up by double digits from the same point last year in Total Viewers (+28%) and Adults 18-49 (+21%) for its strongest delivery on the night in 5 years – since the comparable weeks of the 2009-10 season. HTGAWM and Scandal closed out the Fall season as the Top 2 broadcast dramas in the key young adult sales demo, respectively.

At 8 p.m., opposite Big Bang, Grey's Anatomy dominated its drama competition in the slot (Fox’s Bones) by 3.1 million viewers (8.3 million vs. 5.2 million) and by 85% in Adults 18-49 (2.4/7 vs. 1.3/4). Grey's held steady week to week and greatly improved its hour year to year for ABC (Wonderland on 11/21/13 = 3.5 million and 0.9/3 in AD18-49).

At 9 p.m., Scandal shot to the top of its hour in Adults 18-49 (3.1/9), surpassing CBS' comedies by 72% (Two and a Half Men/The McCarthys = 1.8/5), while more than tripling both NBC's comedies (Bad Judge/A to Z = 1.0/3) and Fox's Gracepoint (0.8/2). It also won its slot in Total Viewers for the 4th week running (10.0 million).

The ABC drama built on its own year-ago telecast at 10:00 p.m. (8.9 million and 2.9/8 on 11/21/13) in viewers (+12%) and young adults (+7%).

From 10-11 p.m., How to Get Away with Murder (3.1/10) beat its combined drama competition for the 4th consecutive week in Adults 18-49 (+24%), leading NBCs Parenthood by 107% (1.5/4) and CBS' Elementary by 210% (1.0/3). The freshman drama was the most-watched TV show overall in the slot for the 4th week in a row (9.8 million).

How to Get Away with Murder was up week to week in Total Viewers (+7% - 9.8 million vs. 9.2 million) and Adults 18-49 (+7% - 3.1/10 vs. 2.9/9), hitting a 6-week high with young adults – since 10/9/14.

HTGAWM was also up from the year-ago telecast of Scandal in the hour by 10% in Total Viewers and by 7% in Adults 18-49.

Source: The Nielsen Company, National Live + Same Day Program Ratings, 11/20/14.