NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt took back the lead in the evening news ratings race last week by a very slim +4,000 viewer lead, or .05 percent. But they did it by removing Friday’s telecast from the average. ABC and CBS were based on the full week.
Had NBC been included its Friday average, ABC would have won the week by+246,000 viewers.
Both Holt and ABC’s Tom Llamas, in for David Muir who was on vacation, reported for most of the week from storm-ravaged Texas. NBC has used the tactic several times this summer, including removing the Friday before Memorial Day from their average.
Nightly News also extended its winning streak in the in the A25-54 demo to 63 weeks at No. 1.
With coverage of Hurricane Harvey, ABC and NBC saw growth vs. the same week last year: World News Tonight was up +7 percent in viewers and up +8 percent in the demo. Nightly News was up +6 percent and up +7 percent, respectively.
Numbers for the week of August 28, 2017:
| NBC | ABC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,516,000 | 8,512,000 | 6,203,000 |
| • A25-54: | 2,101,000 | 1,791,000 | 1,360,000 |