ABC and NBC split the evening news ratings race for the week of Dec. 9.
World News Tonight with David Muir averaged the largest total audience for the week, and has averaged the largest total audience all 12 weeks of the season and the last 54 weeks overall. It averaged +663,000 more total viewers than NBC Nightly News, which is +114% from last year (+663,000 vs. 310,000).
On Monday, Dec. 9, ABC News chief justice correspondent Pierre Thomas’ exclusive interview with FBI director Christopher Wray, was No. 1 in all relevant measurements.
Season to date, World News Tonight (8.6 million) ranks No. 1 in total viewers at this point of the season for the 4th consecutive year. In fact, the newscast is more than doubling its total viewer lead over NBC from last season (+153% – 705,000 vs. 279,000), for its largest lead in 24 years.
Nightly News with Lester Holt finished No. 1 in the key A25-54 demographic last week, posting its largest margin of victory in the category in 12 weeks and in the process, moving back ahead of ABC for the 2019-2020 broadcast season (+8,000 A25-54 viewers). Year to-date, Nightly is the top evening newscast among adults 25-54.
Cynthia McFadden sat down with a former Boeing manager in a Nightly News exclusive about how he warned Boeing about problems months before two of its 737 Max airplanes crashed.
Compared with the same week in 2018, ABC was -3% in total viewers, NBC was -7% and CBS was -13%. The year-over-year losses among adults 25-54 were bad. ABC was -15% in the demo, NBC -11% and CBS was -17% compared to the week of Dec. 10 2018. but was % in the key A25-54 demo.
The averages for the week of Dec. 9, 2019:
| Network | ABC | NBC | CBS |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,631,000 | 7,968,000 | 5,800,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,587,000 | 1,651,000 | 1,065,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 12/9/19), Previous Week (w/o 12/2/19) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 12/10/18). Most Current: 2019–2020 Season (9/23 – 12/15/19) and 2018–2019 Season (9/24 – 12/16/18). Nielsen ratings for ABC, NBC and CBS include additional airings in select markets. World News Tonight’s ratings also include 3:30 p.m. airings in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Averages based on regular telecasts.