Live-plus-same-day Nielsen data for the week of Oct. 11, 2021 is in, and ABC World News Tonight with David Muir finished as the No. 1 newscast for the week, not just in average total viewers (7.91 million) but also among adults 25-54 (1.36 million) for the fourth week of the 2021-’22 TV season.
In fact, World News Tonight ranked as the second-most-watched show on all of U.S. TV last week (excluding sports and syndication).
ABC’s evening newscast has won the last 151 weeks in average total viewers, and 79 of the last 81 weeks among adults 25-54. WNT grew by +1% in average total viewers but shed -2% of its A25-54 audience from the previous week. However, compared to the same week in 2020, it fell by -8% in average total audience and shed -18% of its A25-54 audience.
Second-place NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged 6.61 million total viewers, and 1.19 million adults 25-54 this past week. Nightly held relatively steady in average total viewers, and shed -1% of its A25-54 audience from the previous week. NBC Nightly News gained a tiny bit of ground on ABC in the A25-54 demo, despite losing viewers. However, the newscast was down compared with the same week in 2020 by -11% in average total viewers and lost nearly one-fifth of its A25-54 audience (-19%).
Additionally, on YouTube, full weekday episodes of Nightly News averaged 725,000 views and 590,000 viewers, with the typical viewer watching for more than 12 minutes on average.
CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 4.94 million total viewers, which is +2% from previous week. The newscast also saw solid +6% growth in adults 25-54 from the prior week (902,000 vs. 854,000). Similar to ABC and NBC, CBS saw year-over-year losses in average total viewers (-4%). However, unlike the competition, the newscast saw year-over-year growth among adults 25-54 (+2%).
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of Oct. 11:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,909,000 | 6,608,000 | 4,938,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,363,000 | 1,188,000 | 902,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54. Live + SD Current Week (w/o 10/11/21), Previous Week (w/o 10/4/21) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 10/12/20). Most Current: 2021-2022 Season (9/20 – 10/17/21 and 2020-2021 Season (9/21 – 10/18/20). Nielsen ratings for ABC, NBC and CBS include additional airings in select markets. Beginning 8/31/20, national ratings also include Out of Home (OOH) viewing. Averages based on regular telecasts.