ABC News’ Nightline is set to complete a solid July. The late-night, half-hour news program finished No. 2 in its time period (12:35 – 1:05 a.m.), and garnered 9 News & Documentary nominations for 2018.
Anchored by Dan Harris, Juju Chang, and Byron Pitts, and executive produced by Steven Baker – the program earned an across-the-board victory over CBS’s The Late Late Show with James Corden. In fact, its performance in the A25-54 demo (+104,000) represents its July sweep margins ever in the category since Corden started hosting the program in March 2015.
In addition, Nightline saw its largest Total Viewer lead over the CBS program during any sweep in 6 sweeps periods and biggest sweep advantage in both key adult demos in nearly 3 years – since February 2017 and November 2015, respectively.
That said, the ABC News program continued to play second fiddle to NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers in its time slot. Meyers also managed to post year-over-year total viewers growth in July.
The 12:35 a.m. numbers for July, 2018 Sweeps
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 1,173,000 | 1,325,000 | 1,118,000 |
| • A25-54: | 413,000 | 504,000 | 309,000 |
Nominees for 2018 News and Documentary Emmy Awards were announced yesterday, and Nightline had a significant presence.
Out of Nightline’s 9 Emmy noms, 6 are individual while the other 3 are shared with World News Tonight. ABC News was nominated for 22 News & Doc Emmys in total, including two for work produced by its Lincoln Square Productions unit.
Categories in which Nightline was honored include Outstanding Feature Story in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast (3); Outstanding Investigative Journalism in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast (1); Outstanding Hard News Report in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast (3, 1 shared with World News); Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast (1 with WNT); and Best Story in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast (1 with WNT).
Here they are:
- Outstanding Feature Story in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast
- Nightline – “Becoming Two”
- Nightline – “Beyond the Bucket”
- Nightline – “Femicide: The Untold War”
- Outstanding Investigative Journalism in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast
- Nightline – “Girls Sold: Breaking the Cycle”
- Outstanding Hard News Report in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast
- Nightline – “Putin’s Power: A Journey Inside Russia”
- Nightline – “Retaking Raqqa”
- World News Tonight with David Muir and Nightline – “The Unwanted”
- Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast
- World News Tonight with David Muir and Nightline – “The Rohingya”
- Best Story in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast
- World News Tonight with David Muir and Nightline – “The Unwanted”
The late night ABC News show launched March 24, 1980, with Ted Koppel as host. In 2013, Nightline moved an hour later to accommodate Jimmy Kimmel Live airing in the 11:35 p.m. ET/PT timeslot.
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54. Sweeps based on Live+7/Most Current: July 2018 Sweep (6/28-7/25/18), July 2017 Sweep (6/29-7/26/17) and May 2018 Sweep (4/26-5/23/18). Sweep periods (November, February, May and July). NOTE: Due to the digital transition, the 2009 February Sweep was 3/5-4/1/09. 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.