Following a week of breaking news, from Hurricane Irene and an east coast earthquake to the fall of Tripoli, the network evening newscasts fell back to earth a bit the week of August 29-September 2.
“NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” remained the top newscast for the week, although it was down in both total and demo viewers compared to the same week last year. “ABC World News with Diane Sawyer” placed second, and despite Sayer being absent for most of the week, improved on its year-ago ratings in both total and demo viewers. The “CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley” was also up year over year in both categories.
Note: The CBS ratings exclude Friday’s edition of the newscast, which was classified as a special.
Numbers for the week of August 29:
| NBC | ABC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,862,000 | 7,234,000 | 5,884,000 |
| • A25-54: | 2,303,000 | 1,871,000 | 1,737,000 |