How to Get Away With Murder Cast - H 2014
Craig Sjodin/ABCIt’s safe to call How to Get Away With Murder the surest bet among this fall’s crop of new series thus far. Now that live-plus-3 ratings are in for most of premiere week, the ABC drama stands as the top freshman performer in the adults 18-49 demographic and boasts the biggest DVR viewership increase in history.
The Shonda Rhimes-produced series skyrocketed to 20.3 million viewers and a 5.8 rating among adults 18-49. Not only do those gains top the growth of previous freshman demo champ Gotham, they eclipse its total haul as well. Each fall has produced new time-shifting records as more and more viewers choose to watch broadcast series on their own timetable, but How to Get Away With Murder‘s increase of 6 million blows all previous live-plus-3 improvements out of the water.
And it wasn’t just beating another series from last week. The stat tops the previous record, set in January, by NBC’s The Blacklist. In the key demo, only Big Four reigning champ The Big Bang Theory posted more growth in three days.
It’s more good news for ABC, which has managed to post two big premieres in both live and time-shifted viewing. (Comedy Black-ish jumped nearly 40 percent in the key demo.) The network, which ranked third for premiere week, is the only member of the Big Four without any sports.
How to Get Away With Murder still faces a big challenge on Thursday and in the coming weeks to see if it can hold on to a significant portion of its strong sampling.
