ABC drew a hefty audience for its much anticipated interview with Bruce Jenner on Friday night. Bruce Jenner -- The Interview drew 16.9 million total viewers and a 5.2 rating with adults 18-49, according to Nielsen overnight numbers.
Diane Saywer's two-hour 20/20 special, where the former Olympian and reality star discussed for the first time his transition into becoming a woman, was the week's top-rated program in all categories. It also became the top non-sports program in advertiser-preferred demo since the season finale of Fox’s Empire in March.
The special is sure to set records for Friday night -- typically a much lower-rated than weeknights -- as well as recent newsmagazine primetime specials.
The special was nearly triple 20/20's season average in the demo, which is around a 1.3 rating. The 16.9 million viewers were over 10 million more than the nearly 6 million, that 20/20 has averaged this year. The largest audience for any Friday non-sports program this year was the 12.9 million that tuned for an episode of CBS' Blue Bloods in January.
