ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 during May; Delivers First-Ever Back-to-Back May Sweep Victories in All Key Demos
May 2012 Marks 3rd Straight Sweeps for "Nightline" to Lead in Adults 25-54
ABC's "Nightline" Wins the Week of May 21, Ranking No. 1 in Latenight for 9 Consecutive Weeks in All Target Demos
May 2012 Sweep ABC News' "Nightline" ranked No. 1 for the 2012 May Sweep in all key demos: Total Viewers (3.882 million) , Adults 25-54 (1.501 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.176 million), according to Nielsen Media Research. Leading the May sweep for the 2nd year in a row, "Nightline" scored its first-ever back-to-back May sweep victories, beating both NBC's "The Tonight Show" and CBS' "The Late Show."
May 2012 marked the 3rd straight sweeps period for "Nightline" to take the top spot in the key adult news demo. Further, it was the ABC program's 6th time in the last 7 sweeps to finish No. 1 in Adults 25-54.
"Nightline" aired the top broadcast in latenight during the May 2012 sweep in Total Viewers (5.211 million - 5/22/12), Adults 25-54 (1.782 million - 5/22/12) and Adults 18-49 (1.426 million - 5/10/12).
"Nightline" outperformed NBC's "The Tonight Show" in May 2012 by +123,000 Adults 25-54 and by+125,000 Adults 18-49, beating the NBC program by its largest May sweep margins in both key adult demos in 17 years - since May 1995.
"Nightline" beat CBS' "The Late Show" during the month by +248,000 Adults 25-54 and by +229,000 in Adults 18-49, turning in its largest May sweep margins in 12 years in Adults 25-54 and in 13 years in Adults 18-49 - since May 2000 and May 1999, respectively.
Week of May 21, 2012 ABC's "Nightline" won the week of May 21, 2012, increasing its tally as the No. 1 program in latenight to 9 consecutive weeks in all target demos: Total Viewers (3.969 million), Adults 25-54 (1.489 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.145 million), according to Nielsen Media Research. "Nightline" has stood as latenight's top program of the week in all 3 measures in 12 of the last 13 weeks.
Furthermore, "Nightline" has taken the No. 1 position in 25 weeks in Total Viewers, 29 weeks in Adults 25-54 and 28 weeks in Adults 18-49 of the 36 weeks of the season to date. Together with "Jimmy Kimmel Live," "Nightline" is part of ABC's winning late-night strategy of airing news and entertainment programming.
"Nightline" increased over the previous week in Total Viewers (+7%) and Adults 25-54 (+3%) , drawing its largest overall audience in 6 weeks - best since w/o 4/9/12.
On Tuesday (5/22/12), "Nightline" turned in its strongest telecast in Total Viewers (5.211 million) in 6 months (since 11/22/11) and 2nd-most-watched telecast overall this season. In fact, it was latenight's top broadcast overall in Total Viewers since the "Nightline" airing in November, beating every telecast of "The Tonight Show" and "The Late Show."
Season to date, "Nightline" ranks No. 1 in latenight among Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49, ahead of both NBC's "The Tonight Show" and CBS' "The Late Show." This marks the 2nd straight season that the ABC program is taking the top spot in all 3 Nielsen measures.
ABC News' "Nightline" is anchored by Cynthia McFadden, Terry Moran and Bill Weir. Juju Chang is a correspondent. Jeanmarie Condon is the Executive Producer. The program airs weeknights from 11:35 p.m., ET to 12:00 a.m. on the ABC Television Network. Together with "Jimmy Kimmel Live," "Nightline" is part of ABC's winning late-night strategy of airing news and entertainment programming
(May 2012 Sweep)
| PROGRAM AVERAGES | TOTAL VIEWESR | A25-54(000)/Rtg | A18-49(000)/Rtg |
| ABC "Nightline" | 3,882,000 | 1,501,000/1.2 | 1,176,000/0.9 |
| CBS "Late Show" | 3,104,000 | 1,253,000/1.0 | 947,000/0.7 |
| NBC "Tonight Show" | 3,595,000 | 1,378,000/1.1 | 1,051,000/0.8 |
(Week of May 21, 2012)
| PROGRAM AVERAGES | TOTAL VIEWESR | A25-54(000)/Rtg | A18-49(000)/Rtg |
| ABC "Nightline" | 3,969,000 | 1,489,000/1.2 | 1,145,000/0.9 |
| CBS "Late Show" | 2,754,000 | 1,116,000/0.9 | 889,000/0.7 |
| NBC "Tonight Show" | 3,591,000 | 1,401,000/1.2 | 1,047,000/0.8 |
See Also: "GMA" is #1 for Week of May 21, Leading by 33K Total Viewers
See Also: "Power Players" Hits 4.3 Million Uniques in April, Becomes 8 th Most-Watched Series Online
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 Live + SD weeks of 5/21/12, 5/14/12 & 5/23/11. Most Current: 2011-2012 Season (9/19/11 - 5/27/12) and 2010-2011 Season (9/20/10 - 5/29/11). May 2012 Sweep: 4/26 - 5/23/2012. May 2011 Sweep: 4/28 - 5/25/2011. Sweep periods (November, February, May and July).
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