Series Finale - Rating News

Here is ABC's spin on the numbers.

Sunday Night (7:00-11:00 p.m.)
With the series finale of "Lost," ABC posted a definitive victory on the final Sunday night of the 2010 May Sweep and 2009-10 TV Season, leading its nearest competition by 2.3 million viewers (11.4 million vs. 9.1 million - CBS) and by 100% in Adults 18-49 (4.8/14 vs. 2.4/7 - NBC). Winning the evening for 4th time in 5 weeks among Adults 18-49, ABC registered its 6th straight May Sweep as Sunday's No. 1 TV network in the key young adult sales demo.

* Excluding the nights of its "Academy Awards" broadcasts, ABC marked its strongest Sunday in nearly 2-1/2 years among Adults 18-49 - since 12/2/07.

"Lost: The Final Journey" (7:00-9:00 p.m.)
From 7:00-9:00 p.m., "Lost: The Final Journey" (a retrospective covering the series' 6 seasons) drew an average audience of 9.8 million viewers and a 4.0/13 in Adults 18-49 to win its time period on both counts.

* The "Lost" recap special generated ABC's best non-"Oscar" Adult 18-49 number in the 2-hour time slot since November 2007 - since 11/25/07.

"Lost" (9:00-11:30 p.m.)
Surging from its lead-in at 9:00 p.m., the 2-1/2 hour series finale of "Lost" pulled in an average audience of 13.5 million viewers and a 5.8/15 in Adults 18-49 to stand as the No. 1 TV show on Sunday night on both counts. "Lost" soared to the top of its time period, beating out its nearest network competition (NBC's season finale of "Celebrity Apprentice" from 9:00-11:00 p.m.) by 4.2 million viewers by 71% in Adults 18-49. In addition, Lost registered as TV's highest-rated drama finale this season in Adults 18-49.

* In Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, "Lost" generated its biggest finale in 3 years - since 5/23/07. It was the series' strongest telecast overall since February 2008 in viewers and young adults- since 2/21/08 and 2/14/08, respectively.

* ABC estimates that 20.5 million unique viewers watched the series finale of "Lost" during its 2-1/2 hour broadcast - unduplicated viewers that watched 6-minutes or more of the program.

"Jimmy Kimmel Live: Aloha to Lost" (12:05-1:05 a.m.)
From 12:05-1:05 a.m., ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live: Aloha to Lost" generated a big boost and broad exposure to the show, up by 3.22 million viewers (4.88 million vs. 1.66 million) and by 2.04 million in Adults 18-49 (2.73 million vs. 690,000) over its average this season.

* In fact it was "JKL's" 3rd-largest ever Adult 18-49 audience (any telecast), behind only its 2 post-"Super Bowl" airings.

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 36% currently, from 31% at the same point in 2009. 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: ABC



Source: TVByTheNumbers

Episode 6.16 - What They Died For - Rating News

Source: TVByTheNumbers

Episode 6.15 - Across The Sea - Rating News

Source: TVByTheNumbers

Episode 6.14 - The Candidate - Rating News

Source: TV by the Numbers

Episode 6.13 - The Last Recruit - Rating News

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Episode 6.12 - Everybody Loves Hugo - Rating News

Update: ABC's take

“Lost” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Opposite stiff original demographic competition at 9:00p.m. on Fox (third half-hour of “American Idol” into the highly-promoted return of “Glee”) and NBC (second hour of a 2-hour “Biggest Loser”), ABC’s “Lost” surged from its lead-in by 41% in Adults 18-49 (3.8/10), beating out its non-“Idol”-driven competition in the time period on NBC (“Biggest Loser” = 3.7/9) and CBS (“NCIS: LA” replay = 1.9/5).

Source: ABC



Source: TVByTheNumbers

Episode 6.11 - Happily Ever After - Rating News

Update: ABC's statement

“Lost” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Opposite stiff original competition at 9:00 p.m. on Fox (second hour of a 2-hour “American Idol”), CBS (“NCIS: LA”) and NBC (second hour of a 2-hour “The Biggest Loser”), ABC’s “Lost” built on its lead-in by 58% in Adults 18-49.   Beating out its non-“Idol” competition in the 9 o’clock hour among Adults 18-49, “Lost” (3.8/10) defeated CBS’ “NCIS: LA” by 31% (2.9/8) and NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” by 15% (3.3/8). 

“Lost” qualified as Tuesday’s No. 1 scripted TV show for the 10th consecutive week in Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34 and among key Men (M18-34/M18-49).

Source: ABC





Source: TVByTheNumbers

Ratings News - Episode 6.10 - The Package

Source: TV by the Numbers

Episode 6.09 - Ab Aeterno - Rating News

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Episode 6.08 - Recon - Rating News

Update: Official word from ABC

“Lost” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)

Against stiff all-original competition at 9:00 p.m. on Fox (second hour of a 2-hour “American Idol” – Top 6 Female and Male Performances), CBS (“NCIS: LA”) and NBC (second hour of a 2-hour “Biggest Loser”), ABC’s “Lost” jumped from its lead-in by 4.9 million viewers (8.8 million vs. 3.9 million) and by 217% in young adults (3.8/10 vs. 1.2/4) and grew its audience throughout its broadcast. Despite CBS’ (original “NCIS”) and NBC’s (first hour of “Biggest Loser”) substantial lead-in advantages coming into the hour, ABC’s “Lost” dominated its non-“Idol” competition in the time slot among Adults 18-49 (3.8/10), topping “NCIS: LA” by 19% (3.2/8) and “Biggest Loser” by 23% (3.1/8).

“Lost” qualified as Tuesday’s No. 1 scripted TV show for the 7th week in a row in Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34 and among key Men (M18-34/M18-49).

One of TV’s biggest gainers through time-shifted viewing this season, ABC’s “Lost” is generating big increases over its first-reported numbers through DVR playback, picking up an average +2.2 million viewers (11.0 million to 13.2 million) and an additional +1.1 Adult 18-49 rating points (+22% – 5.0 to 6.1) from the initially reported Live + Same Day Numbers to the Live + 7 Day DVR finals.

Source: ABC



Source: TVByTheNumbers

Episode 6.07 - Dr. Linus - Rating News

Update: Here's ABC's official take.

"Lost" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Opposite stiff original competition at 9:00 p.m. on CBS ("NCIS: LA") and NBC (second hour of a 2-hour "Biggest Loser"), ABC's "Lost" shot up over its lead-in by 5.3 million viewers (9.5 million vs. 4.2 million) and by 180% in young adults (4.2/11 vs. 1.5/4) and grew its audience throughout its broadcast. Despite CBS' (original "NCIS") and NBC's (first hour of "Biggest Loser") decided lead-in advantages coming into the time period, ABC's "Lost" finished a dominant No. 1 in the 9 o'clock hour with Adults 18-49 (4.2/11), outdelivering second-place "NCIS: LA" by 20% (3.5/9), third-place "Biggest Loser" by 24% (3.4/9) and fourth-place Fox's "Idol"-led "Glee" replay by 40% (3.0/8).

* "Lost" stood as Tuesday's No. 1 scripted TV show for the 6th straight week in Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34 and among key Men (M18-34/M18-49).

* "Lost" grew week to week in both Total Viewers (9.5 million vs. 9.3 million) and Adults 18-49 (4.2/11 vs. 4.1/10).

Source: ABC



Source: TVByTheNumbers

Episode 6.06 - Sundown - Ratings

Update: Here's ABC's take.

“Lost” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Opposite the second hour of Fox’s 2-hour “American Idol” (featuring Top 10 female performances) from 9:00-10:00 p.m., ABC’s “Lost” surged over its lead-in by 4.9 million viewers (9.2 vs. 4.3 million) and by 150% in young adults (4.0/10 vs. 1.6/4) and grew its numbers from start to finish (+3% in viewers/+5% in young adults).   Despite CBS’ (original “NCIS”) and NBC’s (first hour of “Biggest Loser”) decided lead-in advantages coming into the time period, ABC’s “Lost” defeated its non-“Idol” competition in the 9 o’clock hour by wide margins in Adults 18-49 (4.0/10), outpacing the second hour of NBC’s 2-hour “Biggest Loser” by 25% (3.2/8) and CBS’ original “NCIS: LA” by 29% (3.1/8). 

“Lost” finished as Tuesday’s No. 1 scripted TV program for the 5th consecutive week in Adults 18-34 and among key Men (M18-34/M18-49).

Source: ABC



Source: TVByTheNumbers

Episode 6.05 - Lighthouse - Rating News

Update: Here's ABC's take.

“Lost” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)

Opposite considerable competition from the Vancouver Olympics and the second hour of Fox’s “American Idol” (Top 12 female semifinals performances) from 9:00-10:00 p.m., ABC’s “Lost” shot up from its lead-in by 5.5 million viewers (9.9 million vs. 4.4 million) and by 188% in young adults (4.6/11 vs. 1.6/4) and built its audience from start to finish (+5% in viewers/+7% in young adults). In fact for the 2nd week in a row, “Lost” outperformed NBC’s Olympic coverage in the 9 o’clock in both Adults 18-34 (+10% – 4.3/11 vs. 3.9/10) and Men 18-34 (+29% – 4.5/12 vs. 3.5/10).
Against the Winter Games and “Idol,” “Lost” grew its numbers over the prior week in both Total Viewers (9.9 million vs. 9.8 million) and Adults 18-49 (4.6/12 vs. 4.5/11).
Despite the intensified competition this year, “Lost” was up over the same telecast last season (Episode 4) in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49 (9.8 million & 4.4/10 on 2/11/09).
“Lost” qualified as Tuesday’s No. 1 scripted TV program for the 4th consecutive week in Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34 and across key Men (M18-34/M18-49/M25-54).

Source: ABC



Source: TVbytheNumbers

Episode 6.04 - The Substitute - Rating News

“Lost” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Opposite fierce competition from NBC’s Winter Olympics and the second hour of Fox’s “American Idol” from 9:00-10:00 p.m., ABC’s “Lost” jumped from its lead-in by 5.6 million viewers (9.8 vs. 4.2 million) and by 200% in young adults (4.5/10 vs. 1.5/4) and grew its audience from start to finish (+6% in viewers/+9% in young adults).   In fact in the preliminary Fast Affiliate Ratings, “Lost” defeated NBC Olympic coverage in the 9 o’clock hour by 13% in Adults 18-34 (4.4/12 vs. 3.9/10) and by 41% in Men 18-34 (4.5/13 vs. 3.2/9). Despite the fact that both the Olympics and “Idol” moved into the time period this week, “Lost” exhibited impressive retention of its audience week to week with viewers, young adults and key men: Total Viewers (88%), Adults 18-49 (90%), Men 18-49 (92%) and Men 25-54 (92%).

“Lost” stood as Tuesday’s No. 1 scripted TV show for the 3rd week running in Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34 and across key Men (M18-34/M18-49/M25-54).

Source: ABC




Over at ABC, episode three of the final season of Lost dipped only eight percent in the overnights from one week earlier, with a third-place 6.7/ 9 at 9 p.m. Opposite American Idol and The Winter Olympics, this was a positive worth noting.

Source: Mediaweek

Episode 6.03 - What Kate Does - Ratings

Update: Here's ABC's take on the ratings.

“Lost” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Despite facing stiff, established time-period competition on CBS (“NCIS: LA”) and NBC (“Biggest Loser”), as well as Fox’s “American Idol”-inflated series debut of “Past Life,” ABC self-starter “Lost” shot up from its lead-in by 6.1 million viewers (11.0 vs. 4.9 million) and by 188% in young adults (4.9/12 vs. 1.7/4) and built its audience from start to finish (+4% in viewers/+6% in young adults). “Lost” dominated the 9 o’clock hour for its 2nd straight telecast in the key young Adult sales demo, defeating its nearest competitors by 23% (CBS and NBC tied at 4.0/10) and fourth-place Fox by 58% (3.1/8).

On its new night, “Lost” qualified as Tuesday’s No. 1 scripted TV show for the 2nd week in a row in Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34 and across key Men (M18-34/M18-49/M25-54).

“Lost” was up from its performance on the same week last year by 1.2 million viewers and by 11% in Adults 18-49 (9.8 million and 4.4/10, Wednesday 9:00 p.m. on 2/11/09).

“Lost” delivered enormous year-to-year time period improvement for ABC, boosting the hour by 6.6 million viewers and by 125% in Adults 18-49 over the year-ago night with original programming (4.4 million and 2.0/5 – originals of “Scrubs”).

Excluding only last week’s sixth-season premiere, “Lost” posted its highest-rated telecast in nearly 2 years among Adults 18-34 (5.0/14) – since 2/21/08.

Source: ABC



Source: TVByTheNumbers

LOST - Episode 6.01 - Early Rating News

Update: 22:20 Here is ABC's Official Ratings Press Release.

"Lost: Final Chapter" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
Opposite Fox's "American Idol" and CBS' top-rated "NCIS," ABC's "Lost: Final Chapter" recap special drew 10.0 million viewers and a 4.1 rating, 11 share in Adults 18-49, offering a strong lead-in to the show's season opener. The clip-show took second place to "Idol" in the hour, beating "NCIS" with Adults 18-34 and key Men (M18-34/M18-49).

* Across the key Adult demos (AD18-34/AD18-49/AD25-54), the special generated ABC's 2nd-highest numbers in the hour this season.

"Lost" (9:00-11:00 p.m.)
ABC's "Lost" opened up its 6th season on a new night against stiff original competition (CBS' "NCIS: LA"/NBC's "Biggest Loser"/Fox's "Idol"-fueled "Kitchen Nightmares") with a definitive Adult 18-49 victory, beating out its nearest 9:00-11:00 p.m. competitor by 49% (5.5/14 vs. 3.7/9 - NBC's "Biggest Loser"). "Lost" dominated all 4 of its half-hours in the key young adult sales demo. In a good sign for future viewing, the drama held steady with a 14 audience share through its first 3 half-hours, and then grew to a 15 a share in its final half-hour.

* ABC's "Lost" stood as Tuesday's No. 1 scripted TV show across the key Adult demos (AD18-34/AD18-49/AD25-54).

* "Lost" was up from its year ago season opener (on Wednesday, 1/21/09) by 6% in Total Viewers (12.1 million vs. 11.4 million), by 10% in Adults 18-49 (5.5/14 vs. 5.0/12) and by 20% in Adults 18-34 (5.5/15 vs. 4.6/13). The Lost premiere produced the series' highest-rated telecast with Adults 18-49 and Adults 18-34 in nearly 2 years - since 2/21/08 and 2/7/08, respectively.

* The 6th-year ABC drama premiere generated the Net's top series numbers in the 2-hour time period since November 2007 with Adults 18-49 and since May 2000 with Adults 18-34 - since 11/27/07 and 5/2/00, respectively.

Please Note: One of the most recorded and played back shows on TV, on average last season in originals "Lost" saw its overall audience grow by 1.8 million viewers and jump 23% in Adults 18-49 (+1.0 rating point) from its first-reported Live + Same Day and finalized Live + 7 Day numbers.

Source: ABC

Update: Full table up now thanks to TVbythenumbers



In season-premiere news, two episodes of the final season of ABC’s Lost were on the map with a second-place finish in both the 9 p.m. (8.5/13) and 10 p.m. (7.9/13) hours. Take a look at the half-hour breakdown:
Lost (ABC)
9:00 p.m.: 8.6/13 (#2)
9:30 p.m.: 8.3/12 (#2)
10:00 p.m.: 7.9/12 (#2)
10:30 p.m.: 7.8/13 (#2)
Compared to the two-hour year-ago season opener on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009 (6.7/10 from 9-11 p.m.) this was an increase of a noticeable 22 percent. Based on this growth, you can anticipate in the vicinity of 14 million viewers and a 6-rating among adults 18-49 for the return of Lost.

Source: PiFeedback

Predict the Premiere Viewing Numbers and Win a DVD

I thought it would be fun excise to see what you all thought the ratings would be for the Season 5 Premiere of Lost on Jan 21st. Please vote in the poll that can be found in our Forums here.

Also, as an added incentive please leave your exact prediction as a comment in the forum and the first person who gets the viewing figures correct (these will be from the Nielsen Official Numbers and will NOT include DVR numbers) will win either a Season 4 DVD or a Season 5 DVD of their choice.

Please predict in the following format eg 16.07 Million.

If more than 1 person selects the same winning number, then the prize will awarded to the person posting first. Winner will be announced on the 22nd January.

Hint: Don't choose a number that has already been selected. :)

'Lost' finds itself the No.1 show

Thanks to Spencer for the following.

It was an uncommonly strong performance for the ABC mystery serial, which is ranked 19th for the season in viewers.

On the other hand, "Lost" had puny opposition as most scripted series moved into postseason rerun mode and viewing overall dropped significantly from the week before. "Lost" had 12.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Happily for CBS, the premiere of "Million Dollar Password" drew 10.62 million viewers. The Regis Philbin-hosted game show ranked third for the week.

Back for its new season, Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance" premiered Wednesday in 10th place, with the second edition (airing Thursday) ranked 8th.

For the week, CBS was the top network in prime time, averaging 7.33 million viewers (4.9 rating, 9 share). Runner-up Fox had 6.07 million viewers (3.8 rating, 7 share), while ABC had 5.52 million (3.6 rating, 6 share), NBC had 5.29 million (3.4 rating, 6 share), the CW had 1.75 million (1.2 rating, 2 share), My Network TV had 1.05 million (0.7, 1 share) and ION Television had 450,000 (0.3 rating, 1 share).

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led with 3.30 million viewers (1.7 rating, 3 share), Telemundo had 880,000 (0.5 rating, 1 share), TeleFutura had 610,000 (0.3 rating, 1 share) and Azteca had 370,000 (0.2 rating, 0 share).

In the seesaw battle between evening newscasts, ABC edged out last week's victor, NBC. ABC's "World News" averaged 7.66 million viewers (5.4 household rating, 12 share) while NBC's "Nightly News" drew 7.65 million viewers (5.3 rating, 12 share). "CBS Evening News" held its customary third-place slot with 5.54 million viewers (3.8 rating, 8 share).

A ratings point represents 1,128,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 112.8 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

Source: CNN

Finale TV Ratings

"Lost" (9:00-11:00 p.m.)
Jumping from its lead-in by 5.4 million viewers and by 133% in Adults 18-49, the fourth-season finale of "Lost" moved ABC up into a dominant first place during from 9:00-11:00 p.m. and towered above its competitors on the evening as Thursday's No. 1 TV program in Total Viewers (12.2 million) and Adults 18-49 (4.9/13). In fact "Lost" topped the No. 2 Thursday show, Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance" (9.4 million and 3.6/11), by 2.8 million viewers and by 36% in Adults 18-49. In addition, "Lost" won its time period in Adults 18-49 for the 13th consecutive original airing, leading its slot in the key sales demo on every telecast this season. Gaining audience during each half-hour, "Lost" gained 1.0 million viewers (11.7 million to 12.7 million) and grew by 18% in Adults 18-49 (4.5/13 to 5.3/15) from start to finish.

Please Note: One of the most recorded and played back shows on TV, on average this season "Lost" has seen its overall audience grow by 1.9 million viewers and jump 18% in Adults 18-49 from its initial broadcast through 7 days of recorded DVR playback (Differential between Live + Same Day and Live + 7 Day Numbers).

* Despite airing 8 days past the end of the official TV Season into summer, "Lost" attracted its largest audience in nearly 3 months - since 3/6/08. In addition, "Lost" generated ABC's strongest Men 18-34 (3.7/11) and Men 18-49 (4.5/13) numbers in the 2-hour time period since early February and its highest Men 25-54 rating (5.0/13) since late January - since 2/7/08 and 1/31/08, respectively.

A note about increasing DVR penetration and year-to-year rating comparisons: Year-to-year rating trends based on the Live + Same Day data stream may be somewhat distorted by the level of DVR penetration in the Nielsen sample, which has jumped from 16% at the same point in 2006-07, up to more than 24% currently. 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: Variety

Episode 4.12 - There's No Place Like Home - Part 1 - Ratings

Ratings are up 600,000 from last week.

"Lost" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
No. 1 in its new time period for 4 weeks in a row, ABC's "Lost" overshadowed its 10 o'clock competition among Adults 18-49 (5.0/13), defeating second-place CBS' season finale of "Without a Trace" by 39% (3.6/10) and third-place NBC's "ER" finale by 52% (3.3/9). In fact "Lost" ranked No. 1 in its time period among Adults 18-49 for its 12th consecutive original airing this season. "Lost" ranked No. 1 in Thursday's 10:00 p.m. hour for the 4th straight week in all key adults, men and women.

* "Lost" was up from the prior week among Total Viewers (11.4 million vs. 10.8 million) and Adults 18-49 (5.0/13 vs. 4.7/13), increasing its overall audience for the 2nd week in a row.

* Continuing to demonstrate strong retention of its "Grey's" lead-in with key adults, "Lost" built on its lead-in for the 4th time in as many weeks across all key men demos (M18-34/M18-49/M25-54). "Lost" was Thursday's No. 1 TV show with Men 18-49 (4.2/12) for the 4th straight week.

Thanks to Unai from SL-LOST.COM for the graphs.



Source: ABC