ABC beat its evening news competition last week in all relevant measurements.
For the 3rd time in the past five weeks, World News Tonight with David Muir out delivered its NBC rival in total viewers (+934,000) and in adults 25-54 (+6,000), per most current data from Nielsen. The +934,000 viewer margin of victory is the newscast’s largest since the week of Jan. 14.
ABC World News has been the most-watched evening newscast 33 of the 34 weeks of this broadcast season to-date, and is well on its way to winning the evening news ratings race in total viewers for the 3rd consecutive season.
On Monday May 13, Muir had an exclusive report as the first American anchor inside Notre Dame cathedral after the horrific fire.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt finished in second place across all relevant categories last week. But the newscast leads ABC by +34,000 A25-54 viewers this season to-date, and is No. 1 among A25-54 viewers at this point of the season for the 11th consecutive season.
Nightly aired its Justice for All series, featuring Holt’s interview with Ava DuVernay and the men known as the Central Park Five.
Versus the comparable week in 2018, the evening newscasts slumped. ABC was -1% in total viewers, NBC was -8% in total viewers, while the CBS Evening News (with John Dickerson temporarily in the seat) was -7%. In the A25-54 demo, the losses were even worse. ABC was -5%, NBC -12% and CBS -15% vs. the comparable week last year.
Major Garrett is anchoring the CBS Evening News this week.
Numbers for the week of May 13 2019:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,071,000 | 7,137,000 | 5,351,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,542,000 | 1,536,000 | 1,031,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD, 2018-19 Current Week (w/o 5/13/19), and Year-Ago Week (w/o 5/14/18). Season to date: Most Current: 2018 -2019 Season (9/24/18 – 5/19/19) and 2017-2018 Season (9/25/18 – 5/20/18). Averages based on regular telecasts.