There was a split decision in the evening news ratings race last week, with ABC finishing No. 1 in total viewers, and NBC No. 1 among adults 25-54, though not by much.
With David Muir at the helm, ABC World News Tonight led its NBC competitor by +603,000, widening its margin of victory over the NBC program year-to-year by +7 percent vs. the comparable week in 2018, and winning in total viewers for the 20th time in the 21 weeks of the season.
For the 3rd time in the last 4 weeks, World News improved on the year-ago week among total viewers (+4 percent) and held steady among adults 25-54.
World News Tonight leads NBC by an average of +432,000 per week, delivering its largest total viewer lead in 23 years – since the 1995-96 season.
That’s a solid accomplishment, but NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt is still clinging onto the No. 1 ranking among younger news consumers, including adults 25-54. Nightly has won the key demo for 27 of the last 29 weeks.
Despite the demo win, Nightly was -5 percent vs. what it drew during the comparable week last year, an Olympics week when casual news viewers are more likely to watch NBC in the early evenings than during other parts of the year. On the bright side, Nightly, similar to its ABC competition, was +4 percent in total viewers vs. last year.
The CBS Evening News with Jeff Glor held steady in total viewers, but was -4 percent in A25-54 viewers vs. the comparable week last year.
Numbers for the week of February 11, 2019:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 9,350,000 | 8,747,000 | 6,667,000 |
| • A25-54: | 2,004,000 | 2,034,000 | 1,374,000 |