TV Ratings: Comey Interview Attracts 9.8M For ABC

James Comey’s sitdown interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos attracted a strong 9.8 million viewers at 10 p.m. Even so, CBS won Sunday’s primetime with its Academy of Country Music Awards, which reached a three-year high in overall audience tallies, reports The Wrap.

“American Idol” didn’t help ABC’s effort, as the series slipped to a new low last night — including the Fox years.

Setting aside the Oscars, the Comey conversation handed ABC its largest non-sports audience in the time slot since the 2016 Emmys. In terms of total viewers, it was ABC’s top news program telecast since the channel’s Caitlyn Jenner interview on April 24, 2015.

The Comey interview earned a 1.7 rating/6 share among adults 18-49, and posted a 2.4/7 in the news demo, which counts viewers 25-54.

While good Nielsen numbers, Comey’s interview was nowhere near what Stormy Daniels hauled in just a few weeks ago for CBS. The audience for the porn star’s visit with Anderson Cooper was more than double what ABC’s special scored.

CBS was first in ratings with a 1.8 rating/7 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 11.7 million, according to preliminary numbers. At 7, “60 Minutes” put up a 1.1/4 and 10.4 million viewers. The ACMAs ran for the rest of the night, averaging a 2.1/8 and 12 million viewers.

ABC was second in ratings with a 1.4/5 and in viewers with 7.1 million. Fox was third in ratings with a 0.7/3 and fourth in viewers with 1.7 million.