Lady Gaga Special Draws Good Ratings, 23 Percent ahead of Beyonce special in same slot last year

The overnight Nielsens are in and the Lady Gaga Special (reviewed here yesterday), drew 5.5M viewers making it ABC’s highest rated show in this particular timeslot in the last four years, and more than 1m more viewers than watched on ABC in the same timeslot a year ago.

The special featured a range of performances, including one with Tony Bennet to open the wwho, and also included an interview with Katie Couric, a cooking extravaganza with chef Art Smith, and a craft session at Sacred Heart School which Lady Gaga attended in her not so distant youth. A Very Gaga Thanksgiving (5.5 million total viewers, 1.6 rating in adults 18-49 demographic) clearly proved to be beneficial to ABC, improving over last year’s Beyonce music special which aired in the same timeslot by 23 percent in the core adults 18-49 demo.

Here is her performance of Edge of Glory: