Bruce Jenner’s interview with Diane Sawyer on Friday night wasn’t just a ratings blockbuster for ABC, as the “20/20” special became Twitter’s most social Friday telecast of all time, excluding sports.
According to Nielsen Social, a total of 8.1 million people in the U.S. saw one or more of the 972,000 tweets sent about the 2-hour special, “Bruce Jenner – The Interview .”
The tweets were sent by 403,000 people and viewed 139 million times, making Jenner’s official declaration that he is a transgender individual who identifies as a woman the top worldwide trend on Friday.
Of the hundreds of thousands who were talking about the interview on social media, there were a number of prominent Hollywood stars voicing support for Jenner.
Lady Gaga, ever-aware of the internet’s invective, cautioned her followers that “we have the chance to write this moment in history together. Let’s empower people like Bruce all over the world by being loving and not mean.”
“Bruce Jenner – An American hero yet again. You changed everything tonight. Thank you. #brave #authentic #beautiful,” wrote actress Debra Messing.
On the TV front, the interview ranked as ABC’s night’s top-rated program on a Friday night, and pushed “20/20” to a 15-year high.
The interview, airing from 9 to 11 p.m., scored a remarkable 5.2 rating/17 share in the 18-49 demographic most important to advertisers, and a 6.4/18 in the key news demo. Those numbers represent the best performance for “20/20” since March 17, 2000.
The interview also drew 16.9 million total viewers.