‘Nightline’ Ranks No. 1 In Total Viewers For The 3rd Straight Week

ABC News’ “Nightline” ranked No. 1 in Total Viewers (1.236 million) for the 3rd straight week during the week of Jan. 7, 2019, based on Live + Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research.  “Nightline” led CBS’ “The Late Late Show with James Corden” (1.220 million) by 16,000 and NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers” (1.210 million) by 26,000.

“Nightline” (434,000 and 332,000, respectively) also beat CBS’ “The Late Late Show with James Corden” (359,000 and 250,000, respectively) in Adults 25-54 (+75,000) and Adults 18-49 (+82,000).  

“Nightline” delivered week-to-week gains (1.164 million, 409,000 and 313,000, respectively, for w/o 12/31/18) across the board: Total Viewers (+6%), Adults 25-54 (+6%) and Adults 18-49 (+6%).  “Nightline” hit 5-week highs in Total Viewers and Adults 25-54, and an 8-week best in Adults 18-49 – since weeks of 12/3/18 and 11/12/18, respectively.

Season to date, “Nightline” is leading CBS’ “The Late Late Show with James Corden” in Adults 25–54 (+34,000 – 458,000 vs. 424,000) and Adults 18–49 (+22,000 – 339,000 vs. 317,000).

Stories reported on Nightline last week included a young woman who says she was tricked into having sex with a man posing as her boyfriend; a breakdown of President Trump’s comments about the U.S. southern border and the Democrats’ rebuttal; a visit to the border to see what President Trump described as an immigration “crisis”;  a look at docu-series “Surviving R. Kelly” and how stars, like Lady Gaga, are now expressing regret about working with him; trans advocate Jazz Jennings opening up about her life before and after her gender confirmation surgery; and Lindsay Lohan’s comeback with her businesses in Greece and new reality show.

NOTE: Due to the president’s speech on Tuesday (1/8/19), “Nightline” aired late and was retitled to “NL.” The telecast is excluded from the weekly averages. ABC’s four days (Monday and Wednesday–Friday).

ABC News’ “Nightline” is anchored by Dan Harris, Juju Chang and Byron Pitts. Steven Baker is executive producer. The program airs weeknights, from 12:35-1:05 a.m. EST, on The ABC Television Network. Together with “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” “Nightline” is part of ABC’s winning late-night strategy of airing news and entertainment programming.

Week of Jan. 7, 2019:

PROGRAM AVERAGES          TOTAL VIEWERS    A25-54(000)/Rtg   A18-49(000)/Rtg 
ABC’s “Nightline”                                  1,236,000              434,000/0.4            332,000/0.3 
CBS’ “The Late Late Show”                    1,220,000              359,000/0.3            250,000/0.2
NBC’s “Late Night”                                 1,210,000              473,000/0.4            354,000/0.3

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD, 2017-18 Current Week (w/o 1/7/19), Previous Week (w/o 12/31/18) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 1/8/18). Season to date: Most Current: 2018–2019 Season (9/24/18–1/13/19) and 2017–2018 Season (9/25/18–1/14/18). Averages based on regular telecasts. “Nightline” premiered in its new time period in January 2013. “Seth Meyers” premiered in February 2014. “James Corden” premiered in March 2015.