ABC has announced that "Countdown to Hotness," the 1-hour lead-up special to the "Are You Hot? The Search for America's Sexiest People" series debut, featuring the search for contestants across the U.S., drew an average audience of 7.4 million viewers and a 3.1 rating, 8 share among Adults 18-49. "Countdown to Hotness" put ABC well ahead of Fox in the hour with its encore airing of "Joe Millionaire." "Countdown to Hotness" beat "Joe Millionaire" (5.1 million & 2.0/5) by 2.3 million viewers and by 55% in Adults 18-49.

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Surging from its lead-in by 2.7 million viewers and by 45% in Adults 18-49, the series debut of "Are you Hot?" attracted an average audience of 10.1 million viewers and earned a 4.5 rating, 11 share among Adults 18-49. From its first half-hour to its second half-hour, "Hot" grew by 8% in Total Viewers (9.7 million to 10.5 million) and by 12% in Adults 18-49 (4.3/10 to 4.8/11). The build on lead-in and growth during the course of its telecast become even more impressive positioned against brutal competition in the hour on CBS and NBC, including the final half-hour of CBS' season premiere of "Survivor: The Amazon," the first half-hour of "C.S.I" and a super-sized episode of "Friends." In the hour, "Are You Hot?" blazed past its competition on Fox ("Pulse"=2.8 million & 1.2/3) by 7.3 million viewers and by 275% in Adults 18-49.

"Are You Hot?" brought enormous time period improvement to ABC, boosting its totals by 4.7 million viewers and by 181% in Adults 18-49 over its average with regular programming in the time period this season (5.4 million & 1.6/4). "Are You Hot?" debuted with ABC's highest Adult 18-49 rating in the time period in nearly 2 years (since 3/22/01) and its best Adult 18-34 rating since November 2000 (since 11/16/00), with regularly scheduled programming in the hour.

Among Adults 18-34 (4.8/13), "Are You Hot? " is ABC's highest-rated Thursday night series debut in more than 8 years - since the debut "My So Called Life on 8/25/94.

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