I had already heard about the audience growth for LOST and other ABC shows through anecdotal stories from friends who work in Burbank, but this is the first time I’ve seen it stated publically. At what point will TV execs make the connection, then, that while they may no be making that $1.41 or whatever it is per downloaded episode, P2P services aren’t doing the industry any real damage? Shows like LOST and Battlestar Galactica likely owe a good portion of their massive popularity to the P2P community, after all. Both had their pilot episodes downloaded months before they aired on US television, serving to provide amazing amounts of positive buzz which resulted in both shows experiencing huge premiere ratings. While they most likely would have succeeded without the DLed bootlegs, it’s becoming harder and harder to discount the positive effect the leaked pilots had on their initial broadcast success.

“Overall, we’ve seen our ratings increase for the shows we have on iTunes, and it continues to pick up momentum,” said Albert Cheng, executive vp digital media at Disney-ABC Television Group.

He said “Lost” was doing “extraordinarily well” on iTunes, a fact he attributed primarily to the overlap in demographics between the broadcast viewers and iPod users.

“We wanted to put our best shows on the platform, but you never really know what you’re going to get,” Cheng said. “Video has surpassed everyone’s expectations, but I do believe iPod is basically a music device and video is an additional benefit to having one.”

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