DATELINE NBC Finishes 2017 as No. 1 Friday Newsmagazine Across the Board
By: Caryn Robbins
DATELINE NBC closed out 2017 as the #1-ranked newsmagazine across-the-board on Fridays, averaging 4.6 million total viewers while outperforming ABC's "20/20" by +987,000 viewers (+27%). This marks "Dateline's" first back-to-back wins since 2003, improving its lead over "20/20" by +625,000 (+173%) viewers vs. the prior year.
Among the A25-54 news demo for the year, "Dateline" averaged 1.5 million viewers, +257,000 (+21%) more than ABC, marking its best A25-54 viewer lead over "20/20" in 14 years. Among A18-49 viewers, "Dateline" averaged 1.1 million viewers, +212,000 (+23%) ahead of ABC, posting its best A18-49 viewer advantage over "20/20" ever. For the fourth quarter of 2017, "Dateline" also finished as the #1 newsmagazine across-the-board on Friday nights, continuing to post its biggest total viewer advantages over ABC's "20/20" in 15 years. This also marks "Dateline's" third consecutive win across-the-board for the broadcast quarter, its best winning streak since the 2003 broadcast season. "Dateline" also grew in every key demo and total viewership vs. 3Q'16, while "20/20" declined by double digits. During 4Q'17, "Dateline" averaged 5.0 million viewers, 78% higher than "20/20" which averaged 2.8 million viewers. Dateline also tripled its total viewer advantage over 20/20 compared to 4Q'16. With the key younger demographics, "Dateline" continued to outperform ABC's "20/20." Among A25-54, "Dateline" averaged 1.6 million viewers, +626,000 (+67%) higher than "20/20." Among A18-49, "Dateline" averaged 1.2 million total viewers, topping "20/20" by +462,000 (+67%).Recent Articles
