“NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” finished 2016 as the most-watched evening newscast, winning all major categories to cap a huge year for Holt.
“I’m so proud of the entire Nightly News team and grateful to our viewers for a remarkable year,” executive producer Sam Singal told TheWrap. “We delivered the finest reporting on the election, broke major stories and spent the summer in Rio without missing a beat, producing a broadcast of the highest quality night after night.”
It was a big year for Holt, who also moderated the most-watched debate in U.S. history, was named to the TIME 100, anchored all of NBC News’ top-rated primetime political coverage, spent more than two weeks anchoring from Rio during the Olympics, and traveled around the world for breaking news.
“NBC Nightly News” averaged 8.5 million total viewers in 2016, topping ABC’s “World News Tonight” by two percent and CBS’ “Evening News” by 22 percent. Among the key news demo of adults age 25-54, NBC averaged 2.1 million viewers, topping ABC by 14 percent and CBS by 31 percent.
“Our 2016 success is also a credit to Lester for his skills as a journalist and a leader, on and off the air, he energizes and inspires the staff. After a strong finish to 2016, we can’t wait to see what 2017 will bring,” Singal said.
2016 is the ninth consecutive year that “NBC Nightly News” won across the board despite switching anchors from Brian Williams to Holt during the win streak.
16 Media Winners of 2016, From Steve Bannon to Gretchen Carlson (Photos)
The bizarre last year featured a wild presidential election, the toppling of a pioneering cable news titan and a new host of pundits who have emerged as household names. Check out 16 winners in media from 2016.
Jack Abernethy and Bill Shine
Shine and Abernethy were named co-presidents of Fox News Channel after Shine’s mentor, former CEO Roger Ailes, stepped down in disgrace amid numerous accusations of sexual harassment. They not only survived the storm, they now run the network, which was the most-watched in all of basic cable for 2016.
Gretchen Carlson The former Fox News host was courageous enough to go public with sexual harassment claims against then-CEO Roger Ailes, who was arguably the most powerful man in media. Ailes stepped down in disgrace while Fox News settled with Carlson and even issued an apology.
Max Kellerman The man who was chosen to replace Skip Bayless on “First Take” is now the co-star of one of ESPN’s biggest brands. The boxing expert who played himself in “Creed” had as considerable a career upgrade as anyone in sports media this year.
Marty Baron The editor of the Washington Post has been a respected journalist for years, but when Live Schreiber portrayed him in the Academy Award winning film “Spotlight” it took Baron’s renown to a whole new level.
Donald Trump Like it or not, Trump essentially used the media to defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election with a ton of free publicity, news-making tweets and polarizing rhetoric.
Hulk Hogan The former professional wrestler received $31 million plus a share of distributions from Gawker’s recent $135 million sale to Univision when he successfully sued the media gossip site for publishing portions of a sex tape in which he was featured.
Steve Bannon The multifarious media mogul went from running Breitbart, a far-right news organization, to Donald Trump’s campaign as CEO. After winning the election, Trump named him the chief strategist and senior counselor of his incoming administration.
Van Jones The political activist-turned CNN pundit became a star on Election Day when he coined the term “whitelash,” referring to voters who came out against diversity and President Obama’s eight years in office.
Fox News’ Primetime Lineup Let’s face it, 2016 was a terrific year for the Fox News primetime team. Bill O’Reilly has the No. 1 cable news show and the No. 1 book in America, Megyn Kelly emerged as a household name and Sean Hannity was the only major news host to believe in Donald Trump's presidential prospects. Not too shabby.
Kellyanne Conway Conway was brought in by the Trump campaign to help soften his image, and she went on to become the first female campaign manager to ever win a presidential election. Conway emerged as the likable voice of reason among the Trump campaign and even received the “Saturday Night Live” treatment when Kate McKinnon parodied her frequent TV appearances.
Brian Stelter CNN’s senior media correspondent and “Reliable Sources” host was among the network’s most-solicited specialists in 2016 when Donald Trump forced media news to essentially mirror political news.
Andy Cohen The “Watch What Happens: Live” host produces Bravo's extremely successful “Real Housewives” series and even joined pal Anderson Cooper for a nationwide tour in 2016. On top of all that, Cohen was rumored to be replacing Michael Strahan on “Live!” with Kelly Ripa, but he’s too busy for another gig.
Ashleigh Banfield The veteran journalist first made 2016 news when she read an emotional letter written by the Stanford rape victim live on the air. In October, CNN promoted Banfield to primetime, where she replaced Nancy Grace on HLN.
Gabriel Sherman The New York Magazine editor literally wrote the book on Roger Ailes back when most observers thought now-disgraced Fox News CEO was a stand-up guy. Sherman was proven right about Ailes in 2016 and was out in front of the story with a ton of scoops surrounding Gretchen Carlson's claims of sexual harassment against the Fox News co-founder.
David Fahrenthold The Washington Post reporter was on fire throughout the election cycle and even broke the story of the infamous hot mic moment when Trump was caught saying he inappropriately touches women.
Chris Wallace The “Fox News Sunday” host was praised for his performance as moderator of the final debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the first Fox News personality to do so. He was even parodied on “SNL” by Tom Hanks.
The MSNBC show deserves recognition for taking Trump seriously from Day 1. In fact, the show survived accusations that it was too friendly with Trump before turning on him and touching off a Twitter feud with the then-candidate. Now, Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough are back in Donald's good graces and have as loyal a fan base as any show on cable news.
Click here for those media members who didn't have as prosperous a 2016 with TheWrap's list of the year's media losers.
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As a roller coaster year winds down, it’s time to declare who came out on top in the industry
The bizarre last year featured a wild presidential election, the toppling of a pioneering cable news titan and a new host of pundits who have emerged as household names. Check out 16 winners in media from 2016.
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