Tom Brokaw may have retired as anchor for the NBC Nightly News, but he left one more legacy after his final broadcast on Wednesday night. That night’s program, which aired live at 6:30 p.m. EST, was the most-watched news broadcast since January 16, 1997, attracting an average of 15.36 million viewers who tuned in to watch him say 'so long.'

In contrast, that night ABC averaged 9.2 million viwers, while only 7.2 million people watched the CBS Evening News. During Brokaw’s last full week, November 15-19, the show averaged 10.8 million viewers each night. In fact, NBC's nightly news recap has been first with viewers for the past five months.

The Nielsen ratings broke down as follows: Adults 25-54 (NBC’s prime demographic) averaged a 4.3 rating as opposed to ABC’s 2.4 and CBS’ 2.0. this is bad news for CBS especially, considering that their senior anchor, Dan Rather, will be retiring in March.

Brokaw retired after being the NBC anchor for over 22 years. He will remain with NBC, producing documentaries through 2014, He is succeeded by Brian Williams, who took over as anchor last night.