Manti Te'o Exclusive Drives 'Katie' to Highest Numbers Since Premiere

Some 3.5 million viewers tune in to Jan. 24 interview

By Paige Albiniak -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/25/2013 3:18:44 PM

Manti Te'o's appearance on Disney-ABC's Katie on Thursday, Jan. 24, drove the show to its highest ratings since its September premiere.

The Notre Dame linebacker was the alleged victim of an Internet hoax in which he believed he had an online relationship with a woman who died of leukemia last September. The story has been at the center of the sports news stage for much of January, after the Gawker-owned sports news blog, Deadspin, unraveled the complex tale to discover that Te'o's so-called girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, was actually a 25-year-old man, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, unbeknownst to Te'o.

In his exclusive interview with Katie Couric, Te'o admitted to continuing to lie about the situation in December even after he learned about the hoax. He also admitted that he had lied to his father about how he had met his online girlfriend, who actually was a front created by a man. Couric went so far to ask Te'o if he was gay, about which many people have speculated, but Te'o vigorously denied that.

In the metered markets, Katie climbed 30% from what the show had been averaging over the previous four weeks to a 2.6 rating/7 share for its primary runs. Katie also notched time-slot wins in the top-three markets -- New York, Los Angeles and Chicago -- with the interview, with the show's best performance coming in Sacramento, where the show scored a 4.7/13 on KCRA at 3 p.m., winning its time period.

The show also scored time-period wins in Norfolk, Va., with a 4.7/10 on WVEC at 3 p.m., and in Notre Dame's home market of Indianapolis, where it scored a 4.5/10 on WRTV at 3 p.m. Katie drew an estimated 3.5 million viewers, according to early projections by Nielsen Media Research. Prior to this, Katie's highest audience was three million viewers, a mark set on Jan. 10 for a show entitled "Medical Mysteries."