It was nowhere near the 14.8 million who tuned in for her Jaycee Dugard special in July, but the heavily promoted Diane Sawyer special “Jacqueline Kennedy: In Her Own Words” drew a respectable 8.4 million total viewers — ABC’s best outing in the Tuesday timeslot (non-sports) in 5 years.
NBC had the night’s #1 show with the second-to-last episode of “America’s Got Talent” at 9pm, with the Sawyer special and an NCIS repeat on CBS tying for third.
The ABC News special grew in its second hour, and was the #1 show in the 10pm hour.
CBS led the night among households with a 5.8 overnight rating. ABC was second with a 5.2. NBC was first among A18-49 viewers with a 2.4 overnight rating. ABC was third with a 1.7.
In its press release, ABC News also touts the fact that the Sawyer special topped the viewership of two previous Dateline NBC specials:
The ABC News Special “Jacqueline Kennedy: In Her Own Words” with Diane Sawyer reporting outperformed the viewership of NBC News’ two most recent “Dateline” specials – the “Dateline” interview with former Vice President Dick Cheney (5.53 million viewers) and “Inside Congress” with Brian Williams reporting (4.29 million viewers).
(Photo Credit: ABC/Ida Mae Astute)