On Feb. 2, ABC’s late-night newsmagazine “Nightline” aired an exclusive interview of former NFL head coach Brian Flores concerning his class-action lawsuit against the NFL. The 60-page suit claims the league discriminated against Black coaches. It was filed following his contention that the New York Giants conducted a “sham” interview of him in January for their head coaching position.
For the past two seasons, Flores coached the Miami Dolphins to back-to-back winning seasons. He was let go after losing a power struggle to Dolphins management. Also included in the suit, Flores alleged Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered him a financial incentive to lose games in the 2019 season in order to attain a higher position in the 2020 draft.
For that Feb. 2nd night, “Nightline” delivered above-average figures of 921,000 total viewers and 193,000 adults 18-49, according to Nielsen Media Research. It propelled the ABC program to rank No. 1 in its time slot (12:35 AM) among the key adults 25-54 demographic for the week of Jan. 31-Feb. 4. It averaged 239,000 viewers within that age range, beating the Jan. 31-Feb. 3 run of CBS’ “The Late Late Show with James Corden” and the Jan. 31-Feb. 2 editions of NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”
ABC research indicated that “Nightline” posted increases over the previous week (Jan. 24-28) in Total Viewers (+5% – 848,000 vs. 807,000), Adults 25-54 (+23% – 239,000 vs. 195,000) and Adults 18-49 (+16% – 170,000 vs. 147,000), drawing its largest overall audience since the week of July 5-9, 2021.
On the two nights prior to the Flores interview, “Nightline” drew 758,000 viewers on Jan. 31 and 775,000 viewers on Feb. 1. On the night after (Feb. 3), 832,000 had watched.
Season to date (thru Feb. 4), “Nightline” (227,000) is beating CBS’ “The Late Late Show with James Corden” (226,000) in Adults 25-54 and for the 7th consecutive year — since the 2015-2016 season.
Cable news averages for January 31-February 6, 2022:
Total Day (January 31-February 6 @ 6 a.m.-5:59 a.m.)
- Fox News Channel: 1.517 million viewers; 245,000 adults 25-54
- MSNBC: 0.690 million viewers; 79,000 adults 25-54
- CNN: 0.467 million viewers; 91,000 adults 25-54
- HLN: 0.214 million viewers; 63,000 adults 25-54
- The Weather Channel: 0.194 million viewers; 37,000 adults 25-54
- CNBC: 0.179 million viewers; 49,000 adults 25-54
- Newsmax: 0.123 million viewers; 19,000 adults 25-54
- Fox Business Network: 0.110 million viewers; 12,000 adults 25-54
Prime Time (January 31-February 6 @ 8-11 p.m.; February 6 @ 7-11 p.m.)
- Fox News Channel: 2.523 million viewers; 395,000 adults 25-54
- MSNBC: 1.252 million viewers; 137,000 adults 25-54
- CNN: 0.555 million viewers; 123,000 adults 25-54
- Newsmax: 0.151 million viewers; 25,000 adults 25-54
- HLN: 0.234 million viewers; 64,000 adults 25-54
- CNBC: 0.254 million viewers; 90,000 adults 25-54
- The Weather Channel: 0.222 million viewers; 53,000 adults 25-54
- Fox Business Network: 0.057 million viewers; 8,000 adults 25-54
Top 10 most-watched cable news programs (and the top MSNBC, HBO, CNN, and Weather Channel programs with their respective associated ranks) in total viewers:
1. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Mon. 1/31/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.822 million viewers
2. The Five (FOXNC, Wed. 2/2/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.814 million viewers
3. The Five (FOXNC, Thu. 2/3/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.722 million viewers
4. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Wed. 2/2/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.691 million viewers
5. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Thu. 2/3/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.642 million viewers
6. The Five (FOXNC, Mon. 1/31/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.589 million viewers
7. The Five (FOXNC, Fri. 2/4/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.561 million viewers
8. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Tue. 2/1/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.558 million viewers
9. The Five (FOXNC, Tue. 2/1/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.439 million viewers
10. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Fri. 2/4/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.333 million viewers
28. Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC, Mon. 1/31/2022 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 2.363 million viewers
156. Real Time With Bill Maher “588” (HBO, Fri. 2/4/2022 10:01 PM, 59 min.) 0.909 million viewers
162. Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN, Mon. 1/31/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.832 million viewers
Top 10 cable news programs (and the top MSNBC, CNN, and HLN programs with their respective associated ranks) among adults 25-54:
1. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Mon. 1/31/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.648 million adults 25-54
2. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Wed. 2/2/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.611 million adults 25-54
3. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Thu. 2/3/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.592 million adults 25-54
4. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Tue. 2/1/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.590 million adults 25-54
5. The Five (FOXNC, Thu. 2/3/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.584 million adults 25-54
6. The Five (FOXNC, Tue. 2/1/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.543 million adults 25-54
7. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Fri. 2/4/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.527 million adults 25-54
8. Hannity (FOXNC, Wed. 2/2/2022 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.521 million adults 25-54
9. Special Report with Bret Baier (FOXNC, Thu. 2/3/2022 6:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.508 million adults 25-54
10. Jesse Watters Primetime (FOXNC, Thu. 2/3/2022 7:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.504 million adults 25-54
41. Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC, Wed. 2/2/2022 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.295 million adults 25-54
105. Daily Show “44593” (CMDY, Tue. 2/1/2022 11:00 PM, 32 min.) 0.200 million adults 25-54
106. Erin Burnett Outfront (CNN, Tue. 2/1/2022 7:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.200 million adults 25-54
128. Real Time With Bill Maher “588” (HBO, Fri. 2/4/2022 10:01 PM, 59 min.) 0.173 million adults 25-54
220. Full Frontal with Samantha Bee “Episode 7204” (TBS, Thu. 2/3/2022 10:00 PM, 30 min.) 0.123 million adults 25-54
Source: Live+Same Day data, Nielsen Media Research
