Ratings Watch: 20/20, Grey’s Anatomy Surge with Huge Episodes
Diane Sawyer’s 20/20: Bruce Jenner –The Interview (already a ratings smash) continues to impress, winning the week ending last Sunday in total viewers (a rarity for newsmagazines).
After three days of playback via DVR and VOD, the 2-hour special gained another 3.6 million viewers, adding up to 20.7 million. The interview also moved up to a 6.8 rating among adults 18-49 (from a 5.2 rating in live+same day) and a whopping 8.3 rating (up from 6.5 in live+same day) in the key news demographic of adults 25-54.
According to ABC, the 20/20 edition is now TV’s highest-ever rated newsmagazine telecast among adults 18-49 and adults 25-54 since Nielsen began reporting live+3 ratings in January 2007.
It was a good week for ABC. The April 24 episode of Grey’s Anatomy, featuring the surprise death of Derek (Patrick Dempsey), jumped up to 12.8 million viewers in live+3–its biggest audience since October 2013. The show also lifted to a 4.2 rating among adults 18-49, its highest young adult number since the season premiere on September 25.
Here is the top 25 total viewer ranker for the week ending April 26, 2015.
| RANK | SHOW & NETWORK | LIVE+3 | WATCHED |
| 1 | 20/20 ABC | 20.7 | 17.1 |
| 2 | The Big Bang Theory CBS | 18.6 | 14.6 |
| 3 | Dancing with the Stars ABC | 14.8 | 13.4 |
| 4 | Blue Bloods CBS | 13.9 | 10 |
| 6 | Criminal Minds CBS | 13 | 10.1 |
| 7 | Grey’s Anatomy ABC | 12.8 | 9.5 |
| 8 | The Voice (Tuesday) NBC | 12.4 | 11.2 |
| 9 | Modern Family ABC | 12.3 | 8.9 |
| 10 | The Voice (Monday) NBC | 12.2 | 10.6 |
| 11 | Madam Secretary CBS | 12 | 10.5 |
| 13 | Survivor CBS | 11.9 | 10.2 |
| 14 | Castle ABC | 11.5 | 8.3 |
| 15 | The Blacklist NBC | 11.4 | 7.5 |
| 16 | Scandal ABC | 10.9 | 7.8 |
| 17 | Hawai’i Five-0 CBS | 10.8 | 8.4 |
| 18 | 60 Minutes CBS | 10.7 | 10.4 |
| 21 | NCIS CBS | 10.6 | 10.2 |
| 22 | CSI: Cyber (Tuesday) CBS | 10.5 | 8.4 |
| 25 | NCIS: New Orleans CBS | 10.4 | 10 |
| Total viewers; in millions |
