Former national security adviser John Bolton’s highly publicized interview on ABC News brought in big ratings.
The interview with Bolton, who is going on a media blitz ahead of his book release detailing his time in President Trump’s administration, aired on Sunday night. More than 6 million people tuned in, according to the network’s public relations department. Despite pre-releasing several clips in the days leading up to the interview’s airing, the program increased its viewership from the previous week by 59% and by 10% in key 25-54 age demographic.
Additionally, viewership for the hour topped their competitors in the key age demographic, both the 18-49 age demographic and the 25-54 age demographic, and in total viewership.
Still, the audience size for Bolton’s interview with ABC News chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz paled in comparison to the ABC News interview former FBI Director James Comey got in 2018 in the run-up to the release of his tell-all book, A Higher Loyalty. Comey got 9.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen. And even that was no match for the 22 million viewers porn star Stormy Daniels got for an interview with CBS in March of that year when she spoke about her alleged affair with the president.
Bolton, both in the interview and in his book, accused Trump of inappropriate presidential conduct and claimed he was unfit for office. Bolton’s ABC News interview was his first TV interview tied to the release of the book, titled The Room Where it Happened. He has more TV interviews lined up, including with Fox News anchor Bret Baier on Tuesday.
