TV ratings: ABC rocks on New Year's Eve

Fast National ratings for Thursday, Dec. 31, 2009

The prime-time portion of ABC's annual "New Year's Rockin' Eve" celebration carried the network to a ratings win on the final night of 2009, edging out CBS.

ABC averaged 7.2 million viewers and a 3.9 rating/8 share in households for the night, beating the 6.4 million and 4.0/8 for CBS. FOX (3.3 million, 2.2/4) finished a fairly distant third, and NBC (3 million, 1.9/4) was fourth. The CW trailed with just over 900,000 viewers and a 0.6/1.

ABC also won the adults 18-49 race with a 2.1 rating. CBS finished second with a mere 1.1, followed by NBC, 1.0; FOX, 0.9; and The CW, 0.3.

Thursday night hour by hour:

8 p.m.

ABC: Movie - "Wild Hogs" (6.3 million viewers, 3.7/7 households)
FOX: "Bones" rerun (4.3 million, 2.8/6)
CBS: "Medium" rerun (4.15 million, 2.6/5)
NBC: "30 Rock" reruns - two episodes (3.1 million, 2.2/4)
The CW: "The Vampire Diaries" rerun (1.1 million, 0.7/1)

18-49 leader: "Wild Hogs" (1.7)

9 p.m.

CBS: "CSI" rerun (7.1 million, 4.4/9)
ABC: "Wild Hogs" (7.09 million, 3.9/8)
NBC: "30 Rock" reruns - two episodes (2.5 million, 1.6/3)
FOX: "Fringe" rerun (2.2 million, 1.5/3)
The CW: "Supernatural" rerun (716,000, 0.5/1)

18-49 leader: "Wild Hogs" (2.0)

10 p.m.

ABC: Special - "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" (8.1 million, 4.1/9)
CBS: "The Mentalist" rerun (8 million, 4.9/10)
NBC: Special - "New Year's Eve with Carson Daly" (3.3 million, 1.9/4)

18-49 leader: "New Year's Rockin' Eve" (2.7)

Ratings information includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are preliminary and subject to change. Source: The Nielsen Company.

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Photo credit: ABC