The rumors are flying that The WB will pass ABC in primetime ad revenue. Although the WB shows are lower rated, they have an amazing demographic of 18-34 year olds that ad buyers truly desire and are willing to pay top dollar for. ABCs demographic is both much older and less desirable so they get lower rates (even before Disneys big ad firesale early this summer).
And if you look at the individual shows, most ABC series dont pull in that much more of an audience than the WB shows do. The ABC overall number numbers benefit from big, but not series hits, like the Oscars and Monday Night Football. And even worse, there are now some time slots when ABC has come in 8th or 9th place behind UPN, HBO, ESPN and other cable networks.
Fortunately, the ratings for ABC are still higher than the ratings for ABC Family.