There was a split decision in the evening news ratings race this past week, with ABC World News Tonight finishing No. 1 in total viewers and NBC Nightly News winning among adults 25-54.
World News Tonight with David Muir has now finished as the most-watched evening newscast for 48 out of the past 49 weeks, and this past week increased its lead year-to-year total viewer advantage over NBC by +484% (vs. 181,000 for week of Aug. 27).
World News also turned in its largest average total audience in four months, and its largest average adults 25-54 audience in 12 weeks.
Due to NFL preseason games, and Labor Day Friday, World News’ ratings from last week are based on just three days (Monday – Wednesday). NBC’s and CBS’ evening newscast ratings are based on four days (Monday-Thursday). Ratings from the remaining days of the week are excluded from each newscast’s season averages.
Season to date, World News Tonight ranks No. 1 in total viewers for the 3rd year in a row after finishing as the most-watched evening newscast for the last two seasons.
Nightly News with Lester Holt was the top evening newscast in the key A25-54 demo for the week, averaging 1.62 million viewers in the measurement, topping CBS by +57% and ABC by +3%. The newscast also continues to win the current season, leading both CBS and ABC in A25-54 for the 12th straight season.
CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell fell from the comparable week last year, both in total viewers and among adults 25-54.
Versus the same week last year, CBS Evening News was -9% in total viewers and -8% among adults 25-54. Nightly News was -8% in total viewers, and -11% among adults 25-54. World News Tonight, on the other hand, was +3% in total viewers, but was -5% in the demo from last year.
Average audience for the week of Aug. 26, 2019:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,499,000 | 7,442,000 | 5,231,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,578,000 | 1,619,000 | 1,031,000 |