There was a split decision in the evening news ratings race for the week of Jan. 7, 2019, with ABC continuing to deliver the largest total audience, but finishing second behind NBC in the key A25-54 demographic.
Anchored by David Muir, World News Tonight beat its NBC counterpart by +419,000 total viewers, widening its advantage from its year-ago lead by +75 percent (vs. 240,000 on week of Jan. 8 2018). World News Tonight drew its largest overall audience in nearly 1 year – since week of Jan. 22 2018, and has won 15 of the 16 weeks of the broadcast season in total viewers.
On the downside, the ABC evening newscast lost audience from the comparable week in 2018, -5 percent in total viewers and -9 percent in A25-54 viewers.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt beat ABC and CBS in the A25-54 demo this past week. Nightly has won that category for 26 of the past 28 weeks, hitting a 47 week high in the category and its strongest advantage over ABC in 17 weeks in the process.
On the downside, the NBC newscast was -10 percent in A25-54 viewers, and -7 percent in total viewers vs. what it drew during the comparable week last year.
The CBS Evening News with Jeff Glor was -9 percent in total viewers and -8 percent in A25-54 viewers vs. last year, which is pretty consistent with the losses its competitors experienced.
The averages for the week of Jan.7, 2019:
| Network | ABC | NBC | CBS |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 9,418,000 | 8,999,000 | 6,676,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,929,000 | 2,091,000 | 1,415,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD, 2017-18 Current Week (w/o 1/7/19), and Year-Ago Week (w/o 1/8/18). Season to date: Most Current: 2018 -2019 Season (9/24/18 – 1/13/19) and 2017-2018 Season (9/25/18 – 1/14/18). Averages based on regular telecasts.