Evening news ratings were lower than usual due to the July 4th holiday, but one trend remained the same: ABC World News Tonight with David Muir was the top evening newscast of the week in total viewers, while NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt was No.1 among adults 25-54.
World News outperformed Nightly News by +951,000 during the holiday week of July 1, more than doubling its lead year to year and winning in total viewers for the 40th out of the past 41 weeks.
Nightly News averaged 1.45 million viewers in the key A25-54 demo this past week, +134,000 more than ABC (+10%) and +500,000 more than CBS (+53%). NBC’s flagship newscast remains No. 1 season to-date in the demo, and is on track to clinch its 12th consecutive September-September season win in the measurement.
How did the three evening newscasts perform when compared with the same week in 2018?
ABC was +4% total viewers, while NBC was -6% in total viewers, and the CBS Evening News was -7%. In the A25-54 demo, ABC, however, was -12%, NBC was -6% and CBS -15% vs. the week of July 2, 2018.
Norah O’Donnell takes her seat in the CBS Evening News anchor chair on a permanent basis this coming Monday.
NOTE: Due to the 4th of July holiday, ABC’s and NBC’s weekly averages are based on three days (Mon-Wed), CBS’ weekly averages are based on two days (Mon-Tues).
Numbers for the week of July 1, 2019:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,791,000 | 6,840,000 | 5,217,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,320,000 | 1,454,000 | 954,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD, 2018-19 Current Week (w/o 7/1/19), and Year-Ago Week (w/o 7/2/18). Season to date: Most Current: 2018 -2019 Season (9/24/18 – 7/7/19) and 2017-2018 Season (9/25/18 – 7/8/18). Averages based on regular telecasts.