On Friday night, ABC’s “20/20” had its most-watched telecast since March 2012 and hit a season high in the key news demo. The show, airing at 10pmET/9pmCT, was the night’s #1 newsmagazine outdelivering “Dateline NBC,” which moved to a new time at 8pmET/7pmCT.
6.7 million watched “20/20” at 10p, while 6.1 million watched “Dateline” at 8p. Without going head-to-head with NBC, the ABC newsmagazine grabbed Friday night’s news-centric audience drawing its biggest crowd since March 30, 2012 and hitting a season high in the A25-54 news demo. The show trailed CBS’s “Blue Bloods” in the hour among total viewers, but outdrew the CBS show in the A18-49 demo. The number one show at 10p in that ad-friendly demo was NBC’s premiere of “Dracula.”
At its new time, “Dateline’s” audience was is biggest in four weeks. The show came in second in the hour to CBS’ “Undercover Boss” but it was NBC’s highest A18-49 rating in the time period in more than 8 months.