Despite recent controversies swirling around ABC News, World News Tonight with David Muir continues to impress in the ratings department.
WNT was the most-watched evening newscast last week, both in total viewers (averaging 9 million) and among adults 25-54 (1.8 million).
ABC’s evening newscast out-delivered rival NBC Nightly News by +787,000 total viewers and just +8,000 adults 25-54, finishing No. 1 in both measurements for 5 of the past 6 weeks.
Muir kicked off the week with a report from the Eastern Mediterranean on board the USS Florida submarine amid rising tensions in the region. That telecast stood as the most-watched single evening newscast (9.3 million) on any network in over 6 months – since April 15.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged 8.2 million total viewers and 1.77 million adults 25-54 for the week of Nov. 4. Nightly is No. 1 in the A25-54 demo for the broadcast year to-date.
Last week, Nightly debuted its What Matters series, featuring interviews with Democratic candidates. It kicked off with Harry Smith’s interview with Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and tonight Smith speaks with former Vice President Joe Biden. Also last week, NBC News Pentagon correspondent Courtney Kube exclusively reported on where ISIS is hiding in Iraq.
One overlooked story in the world of evening news is that CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell appears to be growing its audience right now. For the second consecutive week, Evening News delivered the largest average audience since O’Donnell joined the newscast back in July (5.74 million viewers).
Compared to the same week last year, ABC was +3% in total viewers, but -5% in the key A25-54 demo. NBC was -4% in total viewers and -11% among adults 25-54. CBS was -8% in total viewers, and -13% among adults 25-54.
Average audience for the week of Nov. 4 2019:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,979,000 | 8,192,000 | 5,735,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,779,000 | 1,771,000 | 1,106,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 11/4/19), and Year-Ago Week (w/o 11/5/18). Most Current: 2019–2020 Season (9/23 – 11/10/19) and 2018–2019 Season (9/24 – 11/11/18). ABC and NBC ratings include broadcasts that air later on some stations. Averages based on regular telecasts.