‘Dateline’ Finishes Second Consecutive Broadcast Season As No. 1 Friday Newsmagazine In Key Demos

EXCLUSIVE: Dateline is finishing the TV season on top.

Per Nielsen, Dateline outperformed its competition (namely 20/20 on ABC) to become the top Friday newsmagazine among both adults 25-54 and 18-49 for the 2025-2026 broadcast primetime season. This marks the second consecutive season that the program can lay claim to that title.

The last time Dateline outperformed 20/20 in both demos for two consecutive seasons was 2016-2017 and 2017-2018, Nielsen data shows.

Over the season, Dateline reached 126.7M total viewers, up 4% compared to the same period the prior year, according to Nielsen’s most current Big Data + Panel numbers.

Based on total linear minutes watched for the 2025-26 broadcast season-to-date, Dateline is also the No. 1 most-watched newsmagazine franchise and No. 1 most-watched true crime franchise. 

Dateline has also been performing well on streaming. Dateline 24/7 had its best season on record from October to April, up 4% year-over-year according to Adobe Analytics.

During the past season, Dateline hit another milestone as well with its 3,000^th episode. The program also held its first live event in Nashville and launched multiple top-charting podcasts, including Lester Holt’s first series. Speaking of podcasts, the Dateline showcast has been the top true crime podcast in the U.S. for 55 consecutive months, per Podtrac.