Yahoo News ‘Dateline’ Finishes Year As Top Newsmagazine Program, NBC Touts More Than 160B Minutes Viewed
EXCLUSIVE: Dateline continues to impress after 32 seasons.
Once again, the popular newsmagazine show is top of its class, also coming in as No. 1 among true crime franchises, for the 2023 broadcast year-to-date.
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According to Nielsen most current data, the series has amassed more than 125M viewers this year across broadcast, licensing and syndication. Nielsen most current data includes viewership tallies from December 26, 2022 to December 14, 2023.
Across TV and digital platforms, viewers have consumed 162.5B minutes of Dateline, NBCUniversal touts. This figure includes NBC’s linear channel, broadcast syndication and digital platforms, including the show’s 24/7 streaming network.
That’s up 15%, or 20.6B minutes, versus the comparable window last year (December 21, 2021 to December 15, 2022).
Dateline’s most-watched episode this year was Keith Morrison’s report on the University of Idaho murders, which tallied 4.79M total viewers in January.
“As we look back on another blockbuster year at Dateline, I’m so grateful to our talented correspondents, producers and editors – and of course the many people who trusted us to tell their stories. Looking ahead to 2024, we’ll continue to bring our signature reporting wherever there’s audience – from broadcast to streaming to audio and beyond,” Liz Cole, EP of Dateline and President of NBC News Studios, said in a statement to Deadline.
Broadcast networks are becoming increasingly interested in reporting viewership in terms of minutes or hours viewed, as a response to this adoption of viewing time as the dominant metric used among the streaming platforms. While it is not perfect, it does allow for a better comparison between the broadcast networks and streamers. Nielsen currently reports streaming audience data in minutes viewed, while Netflix and other individual services tend to opt for hours viewed.
The streamers have notoriously kept audience data close to the chest because they are able to report viewership numbers at their own discretion, meaning the broadcasters have had to adapt. With this context in mind, Dateline‘s audience data is very strong.
Dateline is the longest-running series in NBC primetime history and is currently in its 32nd season. The series is anchored by Lester Holt and features correspondents Andrea Canning, Josh Mankiewicz, Keith Morrison and Dennis Murphy.
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