“NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” wins the week of January 19, 2015 in both total viewers and the A25-54 demo. But all three evening newscasts were down compared to the same week last year.
This week last year saw the polar vortex sweeping across the nation, which provided double digit viewership growth. So, when compared to last year, all three newscasts saw double digit drops, in the younger demo and single digit drops in total viewers.
“Nightly” was down -7% in viewers and down -11% in the demo; ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” was down -1% in viewers and down -12% in the demo; and the “CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley” was down -2% in viewers and down 10% in the demo.
ABC retitled Monday’s newscasts and is based on a 4-day average. NBC and CBS are based on 5-day averages. On Tuesday, coverage of the State of the Union address resulted in abnormal start times and preemptions in the Pacific time zone.
Numbers for the week of Jan. 19, 2015:
| NBC | ABC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 9,444,000 | 9,125,000 | 7,732,000 |
| • A25-54: | 2,311,000 | 2,191,000 | 1,919,000 |