As is often the case these days, there was a split decision in the evening news ratings race this past week, with ABC World News Tonight finishing the week of Dec. 3 as the most-watched, and NBC Nightly News finishing at the top of the heap among the advertiser-friendly adults 25-54 demograpic.
Yet each of the three evening newscasts –including CBS Evening News– posted year-over-year audience losses.
World News Tonight with David Muir averaged nearly 8.9 million total viewers for the week of Dec. 3, per live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen. That’s -5 percent vs. the comparable week in 2017. Nevertheless, World News has now won 10 of the 11 weeks of the season in total viewers, and is currently ahead of NBC in total viewers for the third consecutive season.
World News was down double digits among adults 25-54 vs. the same week last year (-10 percent).
Nightly News with Lester Holt remains at the go-to evening newscast among adults 25-54. In fact, with its No. 1 ranking in the category this past week, Nightly News has now finished ahead of ABC and CBS in the key demo for 19 consecutive weeks.
That said, the NBC newscast was -12 percent in A25-54 vs. what it drew during the same week in 2017, and was also -4 percent among total viewers, finishing runner up to ABC.
The CBS Evening News with Jeff Glor was -10 percent in total viewers and -6 percent among adults 25-54 vs. the comparable week in 2017.
The averages for the week of Dec. 3, 2018:
| Network | ABC | NBC | CBS |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,866,000 | 8,571,000 | 6,348,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,792,000 | 1,856,000 | 1,295,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD weeks of 12/3/18, and 12/4/17. Most Current: 2018 -2019 Season (9/24 – 12/9/18) and 2017-2018 Season (9/25 – 12/10/17). Averages based on regular telecasts.