The ABC and NBC evening newscasts had impressive weeks on the ratings front.
World News Tonight with David Muir was the most-watched evening newscast this past week, marking 40 consecutive weeks at No. 1 in the Total Viewers category. Monday’s broadcast –which Muir anchored from California to cover the horrific wildfires– attracted the newscast’s largest audience (9.95 million) in 10 months.
For the week, World News posted +1 percent growth in total audience, and perhaps more impressively, +7 percent growth in the key A25-54 demo vs. the comparable week in 2017.
Nightly News with Lester Holt finished No. 1 in the key A25-54 demo for the 16th consecutive week, and achieved a 36-week high in the A25-54 category with more than 2 million viewers. The broadcast also delivered a 40-week high in total audience with almost 9 million total viewers.
Relative to the same week last year, Nightly was +6 percent in total viewers and +6 percent in the key A25-54 demo. A very strong week.
The CBS Evening News with Jeff Glor was -2 percent in total viewers, but was flat in the key A25-54 demo vs. last year. The 6.6 million viewer average for the week is the newscast’s largest audience in nearly 8 months.
Averages for the week of Nov. 12, 2018:
| Network | ABC | NBC | CBS |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 9,251,000 | 8,973,000 | 6,600,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,980,000 | 2,033,000 | 1,434,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD weeks of 11/12/18, and 11/13/17. Most Current: 2018 -2019 Season (9/24 – 11/18/18) and 2017-2018 Season (9/25 – 11/19/17). Averages based on regular telecasts.