ABC‘s marathon coverage of America’s 250th anniversary over the weekend generated a ratings bump, beating rivals in primetime on July 4.
The network presented a 24-hour programming block called Disney Celebrates America, drawing on news and entertainment units at the network as well as other platforms including ESPN and National Geographic.
In primetime on Saturday, the Ryan Seacrest-hosted Nashville’s Star-Spangled Bash drew 5.44 million viewers, compared to NBC’s Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks, with 4.94 million and an encore fireworks special, with 3.28 million. Fox News‘ America 250: Celebrating Freedom drew 3.47 million, CBS’ The Great American Block Party drew 1.99 million, CNN’s The Fourth in America: Celebrating 250 garnered 1.27 million and MS NOW’s We the People and Hope Comes Home drew 326,000. ABC said that its July 4 viewership was the highest in 26 years. The audience peaked at 10:45 p.m. ET with 6.17 million viewers, during a fireworks show.
On Friday evening, the David Muir anchored kickoff special America the Beautiful from the Statue of Liberty drew 3.88 million viewers, beating Boston Blue on CBS and Dateline on NBC. On Saturday, as part of its 24 hour coverage, ABC’s broadcast of Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest drew 5.02 million viewers, and its 7 Wonders of America segment posted 4.51 million. ABC said that it outpaced other non sports programming throughout the day.
Fox News said that its audience peaked at 5.7 million viewers during the 11 p.m. ET hour on July 4, when Donald Trump addressed a crowd on the National Mall. The address was delayed about 90 minutes due to severe weather, which forced an evacuation from the mall and then further postponement to allow for attendees to be re-screened through security.
CNN drew 1.3 million viewers for the speech, while MS NOW garnered 367,000. The broadcast networks did not carry the speech, but it was carried by streaming services and affiliates. Fox News said that it drew 2.3 million total day viewers on July 4, and 3.5 million in primetime, a network record for Independence Day coverage.
The figures are from Nielsen via ABC and Fox News.
English (US) ·