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“Nashville’s Star-Spangled Bash,” a three-hour Fourth of July special hosted by Ryan Seacrest, hit an average of 5.4 million viewers on Saturday, becoming the most-watched primetime program of the holiday and achieving
a 0.83 rating among adults age 18-49. The
This is the first time any network has beat NBC’s primetime programming on Independence Day — led by “Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks” — in 16 years; this year, the fireworks show hit 4.9 million viewers during its initial airing from 8 to 10 p.m. and 3.3 million during the encore from 10 to 11 p.m. The ABC special outperformed the initial “Macy’s” airing by a solid 24%, and also beat Fox News’ “America 250: Celebrating Freedom” by 57% (3.5 million), CBS’ “The Great American Block Party” by 173% (1.99 million), CNN’s “The Fourth in America: Celebrating 250” by 327% (vs. 1.3 million) and MSNOW’s “We the People”/”Hope Comes Home” by 1567% (326,000).
“Nashville’s Star-Spangled Bash” peaked in viewership during the 10:45 to 11 p.m. quarter-hour, reaching an average of 6.2 million viewers and a 0.99 rating among adults 18-49. It should also be noted that this was ABC’s best Fourth of July primetime viewership in 26 years, since 2000.
“Nashville’s Star-Spangled Bash” was part of a 24-hour programming block titled “Disney Celebrates America,” which took more than a year to plan, as reported by Variety. Per Nielsen, the block achieved an overall reach of 49.6 million viewers between July 3 and 4. Behind “Nashville’s Star-Spangled Bash,” ABC’s biggest win was with “Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest,” which aired for 30 minutes beginning at 12:30 on Saturday and reached its all-time biggest audience with 5 million viewers, up 209% from last year’s 1.6 million. Among adults 18-49, the contest jumped 48% in rating from 0.46 to 0.68.
Other highlights of “Disney Celebrates America” include “7 Wonders of America,” which hit 4.5 million average viewers on Saturday afternoon as ABC News anchors explored the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, Yellowstone and more; and “America the Beautiful,” anchored by David Muir and featuring reporting from across the country, which hit 3.9 million viewers.
