Season to Date for the Second Straight Year "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in Late-Night Among Total Viewers and Adults 25-54

"Nightline" Increases Week-to-Week Among Total Viewers, A25-54 and A18-49

For the week of December 26, 2011,  ABC's "Nightline" ranked No. 1 across all key target demos: Total Viewers (3.385 million), Adults 25-54 (1.362 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.039 million) according to Nielsen Media Research.   "Nightline" delivered across the board week-to-week increases among Total Viewers (+1%) , Adults 25-54 (+4%) and Adults 18-49 (+2%) .

Season to date, "Nightline" ranks No. 1 in late-night among Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49, ahead of both NBC's "The Tonight Show" and CBS' "The Late Show," marking the 2nd straight year that the ABC program is taking the top spot in overall viewers and in the key adult news demo.  

Note:  Due to the Christmas holiday, all three programs were coded specials on Monday (12/26/11).  In addition, due to the New Year's holiday, "ABC News: Nightline" was re-titled on Friday (12/30/11) and is excluded from the average.  Ratings for these telecasts were excluded from the weekly average.

ABC News' "Nightline" is anchored by Cynthia McFadden, Terry Moran and Bill Weir. John Donvan and Juju Chang are correspondents. Jeanmarie Condon is the Executive Producer. The program airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m., ET on the ABC Television Network.

(Week of December 26, 2011)

                    TOTAL VIEWERS   A25-54(000)/ Rtg   A18-49(000)/ Rtg  

ABC "Nightline"       3,385,000     1,362,000/ 1.1    1,039,000/ 0.8

CBS "Late Show"       3,012,000     1,194,000/ 1.0      872,000/ 0.7

NBC "Tonight Show"    3,294,000     1,306,000/ 1.1      954,000/ 0.7

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 Live + SD weeks of 12/26/11, 12/19/11 & 12/27/10.  Most Current: 2011-2012 Season (9/19/11 - 1/1/12) and 2010-2011 Season (9/20/10 - 1/2/11).   

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