Another week, a similar trend: ABC finished No. 1 in the evenings when it came to total viewers, while NBC finished on top in the key A25-54 demo.
Anchored by David Muir, World News Tonight averaged +192,000 more total viewers than NBC Nightly News this past week, giving the ABC evening newscast its 37th consecutive weekly win in total audience.
In addition to continuing its dominance in total viewers, World News managed to post +2 percent growth in the 25-54 demo vs. the same week in 2017. World News managed to slash its margins with Nightly News vs. the same week last year by -89 percent in the aforementioned demo ( -20,000 vs. -181,000), something the network is very excited about.
Despite finishing No. 2 behind ABC in total viewers, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt was able to post year-over-year growth in the category (+1 percent). That’s now two consecutive weeks of year-over-year total viewer growth for the newscast.
Nightly News was -7 percent in the key A25-54 demo vs. the same week last year; but it’s still the go-to evening newscast for the younger news demos, and has ranked No. 1 in A25-54 for 13 consecutive weeks, the demo which still matters most to advertisers.
The CBS Evening News with Jeff Glor was -7 percent in total viewers, and -9 percent among adults 25-54 vs. the comparable week in 2017.
Averages for the week of Oct. 22, 2018:
| Network | ABC | NBC | CBS |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,379,000 | 8,187,000 | 5,800,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,752,000 | 1,772,000 | 1,174,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD weeks of 10/22/18, and 10/23/17. Most Current: 2018 -2019 Season. Averages based on regular telecasts.