Dateline NBC Wraps Up Another Killer Year

By A.J. Katz 

Dateline NBC co-hosts were everywhere in 2018.

Ellen DeGeneres tapped Keith Morrison to investigate a “scary” encounter she had with an angry driver in 2017.

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Speaking of Morrison, Bill Hader did his best impression of the Dateline co-host on Jimmy Kimmel Live back in May:

Dennis Murphy hung out with Taylor Swift.

Kris Jenner gave a shout out to Dateline during an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, a program which just so happens to air on sibling NBCU network, E!:

Dateline fans flocked to see the hosts at this year’s CrimeCon.

And last weekend, Andrea Canning announced that she’s pregnant with her 6th child – a boy. Canning revealed that the baby is due in June.

Dateline NBC also killed the Friday night ABC competition in the ratings for the third consecutive year.

The NBC Friday newsmagazine closed out 2018 at No. 1 in total viewers, averaging 3.85 million total viewers, per Nielsen, while ABC’s 20/20 average 3.08 million total viewers; which is about a +25 percent advantage.

Dateline also finished 2018 No. 1 among adults 25-54, and won 40 of 46 Friday nights in the 2018 calendar year, posting its largest total audience of the year on Sept. 21 (4.83 million), which was the show’s 27th season premiere.

Three other NBC News shows (Today, Nightly News, MTP) finished No. 1 in the demo.

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