The evening newsers, who had just covered the Hanoi summit from Vietnam a week earlier, decamped to Alabama last Monday, to cover the devastation after a hurricane killed more than 20 people.
ABC World News Tonight with David Muir continued as the top evening news broadcast in total viewers. Season to date, the broadcast has its largest total viewer lead in 23 years. But it was edged out by NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt in the A25-54 demo, with 1.957 million demo viewers (and a 1.62 demo rating) to ABC’s 1.920 million (and a 1.59 rating).
The ABC evening newscast was up 2 percent in total viewers compared to the same week in 2018, though its performance in the A25-54 demo is down 3 percent in the same timeframe. World News won the week in total viewers for the 23rd week out of 24 weeks so far this season, and continues to hold onto the total viewer lead for the season.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt was up 3 percent in total viewers, as well as 3 percent in the demo, vs. the same week in 2018. With its slight demo win, the broadcast maintains its A25-54 lead over ABC for the current broadcast season.
CBS Evening News with Jeff Glor, meanwhile, once again saw the biggest year-over-year ratings drops: the broadcast fell 3 percent in total viewers and 9 percent in the A25-54 demo.
Numbers for the week of March 4, 2019:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 9,283,000 | 8,561,000 | 6,309,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,920,000 | 1,957,000 | 1,276,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD, 2018-19 Current Week (w/o 3/4/19), Previous Week (w/o 2/25/19) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 3/5/18). Season to date: Most Current: 2018 -2019 Season (9/24/18 – 3/10/19) and 2017-2018 Season (9/25/18 – 3/11/18). Averages based on regular telecasts.