Bruce Jenner's Interview Ratings Are In

During his highly anticipated 20/20 interview on Friday with Diane Sawyer, Bruce Jenner revealed that he is "for all intents and purposes... a woman." It was a groundbreaking moment, and Sawyer and Jenner spent the rest of the interview discussing important matters of gender identity and acceptance. During the interview, an outpouring of support and love was witnessed on Twitter —and now, EW reports that Bruce Jenner's interview scored huge ratings for ABC.

According to the site, the interview brought in about 16.9 million viewers — that's four times as many viewers as 20/20 usually receives, and it's the biggest Friday night episode of the show in 15 years. Additionally, the two-hour special prompted 972,000 tweets, a number that only appears to be growing.

These numbers aren't a shock, of course, considering the amount of chatter on social media during the interview. Also according to EW, the interview earned a 5.2 rating among adults 18-49.

I feel that the interview appealed to a few distinct and important populations. First, there's the already massive Kardashian fan base who have grown to love Jenner as their own dad. Second, there are those who remember Jenner from the Olympics, and perhaps were interested in better understanding what Jenner is going through.

This is such good news, as it means that a large and diverse segment of the population tuned in not only to see Jenner bravely share his story — on his terms, which is a deeply important fact — but also to learn more about those who go through very real struggles with gender identity on a daily basis. 20/20's special on Jenner was educational and respectful of the subject matter, and, most importantly, let Jenner have full control of the interview: considering it's his story to tell, this is how it should be. Additionally, as some members of the Kardashian family, as well as other celebrities have pointed out, Jenner sharing his story with this special may perhaps empower others dealing with similar things.

Editor’s Note: Per Jenner’s stated preference, Bustle will continue referring to Jenner using he/his pronouns for the time being. We will follow his lead and make any changes to this policy as needed in the future.