ABC News soars with first Palin interviews

By Paul J. Gough

NEW YORK -- It was a winning night for ABC News, riding high in the ratings on the heels of the first interviews with vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Both "World News With Charles Gibson" and "Nightline" won in their time periods in the metered markets Thursday nights, all thanks to the set of exclusive interviews between Gibson and Palin in Fairbanks and Wasilla, Alaska. And ABCNews.com, where the network first put clips from the interview, also boosted its traffic.

"World News" averaged 9.7 million viewers and a 2.5 rating/10 share in the adults 18-49 demographic in the metered markets, Nielsen Media Research said Friday afternoon. It was its highest viewership since last February and ahead of second-place "NBC Nightly News" by more than 2 million viewers.

ABC News' "Nightline" and its 4.2/10 in the overnights stomped traditional leader "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," which averaged a 3.3/8 and was ahead of "Late Show With David Letterman" and its 3.6/9 rating.

ABCNews.com saw 3 million page views, including 600,000 streaming videos for the Palin interview.