Despite ending the week on a low note, “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” won the week of Feb. 2 in both total viewers and the A25-54 demo. “Nightly News” averaged 10.18 million viewers for the week, but dropped -27% from its Monday high of 11.58 million to Friday’s low of 8.43 million. By then, the allegations of Williams’s fabrications were still mounting.
The earlier part of the week saw big viewership across the three evening newscasts because of severe winter weather. In fact, Friday was the least-watched night for all three broadcasts last week.
As we reported yesterday, based on the preliminary data, “World News Tonight with David Muir” won Friday in both total viewers and the two younger demos: A25-54 and A18-49. In the key A25-54 demo, Muir’s lead on Williams was +14%. Among total viewers, the lead was +3%.
Compared to the same week last year all three broadcasts were down, though it should be noted that the same week last year was the most-watched week for the evening newscasts in nine years, again due to severe winter weather and the lead-up to the Sochi Olympics. “Nightly” was down -7% in viewers and down -14% in the A25-54 demo; “World News Tonight” was flat in viewers and down -15% in the demo; “CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley” was down -8% in viewers and down -20% in the demo.
Numbers for the week of Feb. 2, 2015:
| NBC | ABC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 10,177,000 | 9,460,000 | 7,853,000 |
| • A25-54: | 2,535,000 | 2,346,000 | 1,815,000 |