NEW YORK (AP) – NBC’s summer run of “Weekend Update” segments from “Saturday Night Live” and ABC’s two-part special on Princess Diana were modest successes for their television networks last week.
The first of four weeks where “SNL’s” Michael Che and Colin Jost deliver topical jokes on NBC’s prime-time lineup was seen by nearly 4.9 million viewers last week. It was the 17th most popular program on last week but did better in the 18-to-49-year-old demographic NBC pays most attention to. Aside from “Game of Thrones,” only competition shows like “America’s Got Talent” or “Big Brother” beat the program among the younger viewers.
Although its audience skewed older, the two-part ABC News special recalling Diana also landed in the Nielsen company’s top 20 last week. Only “The Bachelorette” did better last week for ABC.
With its powerful one-two punch of “America’s Got Talent” and the summer finale of “World of Dance,” NBC again dominated in the ratings last week.
NBC averaged 4.9 million viewers in prime time, Nielsen said. CBS had 3.99 million, ABC had 3.95 million, Fox had 1.7 million, Univision had 1.49 million, Telemundo had 1.45 million, ION Television had 1.3 million and the CW had 940,000.