The switch to Daylight Saving Time caused a drop in evening news viewership last week. The 6:30-7p Households using television (HUT) level was down -7% week-to-week, while People Using Television (PUT) levels among Total Viewers and A25-54 viewers were both down -8%.
“NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” won the week, besting second-place “ABC World News with Diane Sawyer” by 798,000 Total Viewers and 213,000 A25-54 viewers. “CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley” was third in both ratings measurements.
Compared to the same week last year, which saw heavy coverage of the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami, all three newscasts are down in Total Viewers and A25-54 viewers.
Note: “CBS Evening News” was re-named, and excluded from the averages, on Thursday and Friday due to NCAA basketball games. “World News” and “Nightly News” averages were based on 5 days.
Numbers for the week of March 12, 2012:
| NBC | ABC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,099,000 | 7,301,000 | 5,882,000 |
| • A25-54: | 2,097,000 | 1,884,000 | 1,688,000 |