Nightline is in the midst of a nice ratings winning streak in August.
ABC’s late night news show ranked No. 1 among broadcast programming in Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 in its timeslot for the week of Aug. 5, marking back-to-back weekly wins. Nightline also defeated its timeslot competitors NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers and CBS’s The Late Late Show with James Corden in A18-49. The A18-49 demo is one advertisers of TV news base their spend on (TV news skews older, let’s be honest), but it’s a demographic that advertisers of late-night and entertainment programming do, making ABC’s win in this age-range all the more notable.
Nightline’s across the board wins in consecutive weeks hadn’t happened in over three years based on weeks of original telecasts on CBS and NBC – since weeks of June 6, 2016 and June 13, 2016.
However, each of the programs were down noticeably from the comparable week in 2018. Nightline was -14% in total viewers, and -18% in A25-54 viewers. The Late Late Show was -17% in total viewers and -23% in demo viewers, and Late Night was -16% in total viewers and -28% in demo viewers from the same week last year.
Stories reported on Nightline last week included continuing coverage of the mass shootings in El Paso, TX, and Dayton, OH, the progress that has been made in ALS research and one man’s potential breakthrough, the role of 8chan in stoking hate online, an interview with the family of a young woman killed by sharks while snorkeling in the Bahamas and a behind the scenes visit to Camp Mariah.
NOTE: On Friday (8/9/19), CBS’ “The Late Late Show with James Corden” was retitled to “The Late Late Show-JC.” The retitled telecast is excluded from the weekly averages. CBS’ averages are based on 4 days (Mon-Thurs).
Numbers for the week of August 5, 2019:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 1,043,000 | 966,000 | 933,000 |
| • A25-54: | 343,000 | 341,000 | 281,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD, 2018-2019 Current Week (w/o 8/5/19), Previous Week (w/o 7/28/19) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 8/6/18). Season to date: Most Current: 2018–2019 Season (9/24/18 – 8/11/19) and 2017-2018 Season (9/25/17 – 8/12/18). 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.