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.