Each of the three evening newscasts grew in total viewers relative to the same week in 2015.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt won the week across the board, and grew both in total viewers (+2 percent) and in the key A25-54 demo (+6 percent) from the same week last year. Nightly was the sole evening newscast to grow year-over-year in both categories, and has now maintained a stranglehold on the No. 1 spot in adults 25-54 for 71 of the last 72 weeks.
Nightly News ratings from last week are based on a four-day average to Thursday Night Football (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday). ABC and CBS evening newscast ratings are based on the usual 5 day average.
Speaking of ABC, World News Tonight with David Muir finished No. 2 this past week, but saw the most growth in total viewership relative to the same week last year (+7 percent). It was -1 percent in the demo year-over-year.
World News Tonight is currently television’s most-watched evening newscast for the 2016-2017 broadcast season, and is averaging its largest total audience in 9 years. WNT has not been No. 1 at this point in a season since 1998-1999.
The CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley grew +2 percent in total viewers from the same week in 2015, but -2 percent in the demo.
Numbers for the week of Dec. 5, 2016:
| NBC | ABC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 9,182,000 | 9,114,000 | 7,621,000 |
| • A25-54: | 2,291,000 | 1,927,000 | 1,702,000 |