Oscars' strong showing boosts other ABC shows, too

The Associated Press, Tuesday, February 26, 2013, 12:47pm (PST)

NEW YORK (AP) — The 40.4 million people who watched the Oscars this year helped some other ABC shows, too.

Jimmy Kimmel's post-Oscars talk show had its biggest audience in the eight years he's been doing it. The Nielsen company said 5.8 million people tuned in to a show that didn't begin until after midnight on the East Coast. It was his second biggest audience ever, behind a post-Super Bowl special in 2006.

The Oscars itself had its biggest audience in three years

The day afterward, ABC's "Good Morning America" had its widest margin of victory over NBC's "Today" show in many years.

"Good Morning America" also had more than 6 million viewers last Wednesday when Robin Roberts returned from an illness.