'Scandal' Finale Draws Show's Second Largest Audience Ever

Photo Credit: ABC

With a repeat Grey's Anatomy at 8 p.m., an original Grey's at 9 p.m. and Scandal at 10 p.m. with its best-ever season finale numbers, ABC won Thursday for the 2nd week in a row among Adults 18-49 (2.2/7). Scandal was Thursday's #1 TV show in Adults 18-49.

Spiking over its lead-in at 10 p.m. (+36%), ABC's season finale of Scandal (3.4/10) dominated its hour, beating NBC's season finale of Parenthood by 162% (1.3/4). It was also the most-watched TV show overall in the hour. Scandal was up by double digits week to week in Total Viewers (+14%) and Adults 18-49 (+13%), drawing its 2nd-largest-ever audience and tying its 2nd-highest young adult number. Scandal equaled the highest Adult 18-49 number for any 10 p.m. drama telecast on any net since October – since 10/3/13.

Scandal was up over its year-ago finale (9.1 million and 3.2/9 on 5/16/13) by 15% in Total Viewers and by 6% in Adults 18-49, marking the show’s strongest season finale.

On average, Scandal finished up 39% in Total Viewers (11.5 million vs. 8.3 million) and 43% in Adults 18-49 (4.0/12 vs. 2.8/8) to post its best-ever season, while also qualifying as TV’s fastest growing returning series.

Despite competition from the Scandal season finale, Parenthood (1.3/4 in 18-49, 4.0 million viewers overall from 10-11 p.m. ET) jumped +18% versus last week’s 1.1 in 18-49, making it the top Parenthood in three weeks, since scoring a 1.4 on March 27. It’s also a three-week high in total viewers, where Parenthood is currently up week to week by +8% (to 3.961 million from 3.663 million). Versus its lead-in, Parenthood was up +44% in adults 18-49 and up +24% in total viewers.