It was clear the place to be on New Year’s Eve was at ABC, as they conquered Tuesday night ratings by ringing in 2020 with Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest. The traditional two-part New Year’s Eve celebration won all 6 half-hours of primetime. Part 1 of the special earned a 1.9 in the adults 18-49 demographic as 7.29 million viewers donned their novelty 2020 glasses to watch the special. This led into the second part of the New Year’s Rockin’ Eve special which skyrocketed to a 3.2 rating as a staggering 10.73 million viewers counted down the final minutes of 2019 with performances by BTS and Post Malone.
Despite being down from last year, ABC New Year’s Eve primetime lineup earned a 2.4 rating and 8.4 million viewers. New Year’s Rockin’ Eve was easily Tuesday’s #1 program in primetime and marked ABC strongest Tuesday in total viewers and ratings in the demo in nearly two years.
New Year’s Rockin’ Eve left other New Year’s Eve network festivities in the dust. NBC’s New Year’s Eve primetime slate which included A Toast to 2019! (1.0, 4.38M) which was a lead-in to their New Year’s Eve Special 2020 (1.4, 5.31M), both took a hit from 2018.
Meanwhile, Fox’s 2020 celebration delivered numbers on the lower end with New Year’s Eve With Steve Harvey: Live From Times Square (0.8, 2.80M), which was down a tenth from last year.
