• by Wayne Friedman , September 30, 2010

Early-season results have ABC claiming top-dog status among upscale TV viewers -- one of the most prized TV groups for advertisers. Fox's "Glee" scored the best results of any single TV show.

ABC says for live-plus-same-day ratings in non-sports programming, it posted a 3.2 rating among 18-49 viewers who make $100,000 or more. CBS was next at a 2.9, followed by Fox and NBC tied at a 2.4 rating.

ABC was also tops when it comes to viewers with four years of college. The network had a 3.4 rating; CBS, a 3.0; NBC, a 2.7; and Fox, a 2.4. This repeats ABC's strong results from recent seasons.

Historically, TV advertisers desire upscale viewers for a number of reasons. They usually buy high-priced consumer products, and they are hard-to-get TV viewers.

In this exclusive demo, Fox's "Glee" has been one of the season's high points. The show easily had a top rating of 8.5 among 18-49 viewers making $100,000 or more.

ABC had six of the top-15-rated shows for upscale viewers: "Modern Family" (6.9 rating) ranked second after "Glee"; "Dancing with the Stars" (6.5) was in third place; "Grey's Anatomy" (5.9) was in fourth place; "Cougar Town (4.7) took ninth place; "Dancing with the Stars: Results" (4.6) earned 11th place; and "Desperate Housewives" with a 4.4 rating took 14th place.

The best-rated show for NBC was "The Office" at a 6.7 rating, good for third place. CBS' "Big Bang Theory" took a 5.5 and a sixth-place result.

Although its results have not been included here, NBC's "Sunday Night Football" also gets a high percentage of upscale viewers, especially men. Many TV advertisers tend to view sports as a separate and different TV platform for their brands.