Dateline NBC finished the 4th quarter of 2016 as the No. 1 Friday newsmagazine show in Total Viewers, A25-54 and A18-49, avenging its Q4 2015 loss to ABC’s 20/20.
In addition to its quarterly victory, Dateline, which is in the midst of its 25th season on NBC, grew +6 percent in Total Viewers, and +3 percent in both the A25-54 and A18-49 demos relative to the same quarter last year. 20/20, on the other hand, experienced year-over-year declines in the aforementioned categories.
On Fridays, Dateline airs from 9 – 11 p.m., while 20/20 airs from 10 – 11 p.m.
On the most recent Friday that Dateline was rated (December 16), the two-hour broadcast averaged close to 5.2 million total viewers, up around +200,000 from its Q4 2016 average. 20/20 also delivered big numbers on 12/16, numbers which were close to its Q4 2015 averages, but still short of what Dateline was able to deliver.
Dateline finished No. 1 across-the-board on 10 of the 12 Fridays on which the program aired during Q4.
The averages for Q4 2016:
- Total Viewers: NBC: 4.981 M / ABC: 4.253 M
- A25-54 viewers: NBC: 1.731 M / ABC: 1.461 M
- A18-49 viewers: NBC: 1.277 M / ABC: 1.089 M
The averages for Dec. 16, 2016:
- Total Viewers: NBC: 5.168 M / ABC: 5.148 M
- A25-54 viewers: NBC: 1.811 M / ABC: 1.584 M
- A18-49 viewers: NBC: 1.336 M / ABC: 1.225 M