Ratings Report for ABC News' "Nightline" For the Week of August 20, 2012

"Nightline" No. 1 in Total Viewers and Adults 25-54

Friday Broadcast Is Late Night's Most-Watched Telecast of the Week in All Key Demos

"Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in Late Night Among Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Season to Date

For the week of August 20, 2012, ABC's "Nightline" ranked as the No. 1 program in late night in Total Viewers (3.340 million) and Adults 25-54 (1.206 million), according to Nielsen Media Research.

Building on the previous week (3.198 million and 1.195 million, respectively, on w/o 8/13/12) in Total Viewers (+4%) and Adults 25-54 (+1%) for the 3rd week in a row, "Nightline" turned in its strongest performance in 4 weeks in both Nielsen measures - since w/o 7/23/12.

"Nightline's" Friday broadcast (8/24/12) stood as late night's most-watched telecast of the week in Total Viewers (4.073 million), Adults 25-54 (1.457 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.111 million).

Season to date "Nightline" ranks No. 1 in late night among Total Viewers and Adults 25-54, ahead of both NBC's "The Tonight Show" and CBS' "The Late Show." This marks the 3rd straight season that the ABC program is taking the top spot in overall viewers and 2nd season in a row in the key adult news demo.

NOTE: On Friday, CBS' "The Late Show" was retitled due to NFL Preseason Football and is excluded from all averages.

Last week "Nightline" featured Josh Elliott's exclusive interview with former Penn State President Graham Spanier, Linsey Davis' journey to the Artic to track the elusive Narwhal, the fires in the West and shooting at the Empire State Building.

ABC News' "Nightline" is anchored by Cynthia McFadden, Terry Moran and Bill Weir. Juju Chang is a correspondent. Jeanmarie Condon is the Executive Producer. The program airs weeknights from 11:35 p.m., ET to 12:00 a.m. on the ABC Television Network. Together with "Jimmy Kimmel Live," "Nightline" is part of ABC's winning late night strategy of airing news and entertainment programming.

Week of August 20, 2012

PROGRAM AVERAGES TOTAL VIEWERS A25-54(000)/ Rtg A18-49(000)/ Rtg

ABC "Nightline" 3,340,000 1,206,000/ 1.0 926,000/ 0.7

CBS "Late Show" 2,318,000 910,000/ 0.8 647,000/ 0.5

NBC "Tonight Show" 3,250,000 1,190,000/ 1.0 975,000/ 0.8

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 Live + SD weeks of 8/20/12, 8/13/12 & 8/22/11, or as dated. Most Current: 2011-2012 Season (9/19/11 - 8/26/12) and 2010-2011 Season (9/20/10 - 8/28/11).