The broadcast networks sent their respective evening news anchors down to the Florida panhandle to cover the hell Hurricane Michael has inflicted on the region.
But that on-the-ground coverage didn’t necessarily lift ABC, NBC and CBS to year-over-year ratings growth.
ABC World News Tonight with David Muir is the most-watched evening newscast, and has been for 35 consecutive weeks and running. The newscast was flat this past week in total viewers vs. the same week in 2017 , yet it continues to lose traction with the A25-54 demo (-4 percent year-over-year).
On Tuesday, World News was No. 1 across the board, and on Wednesday, WNT turned in its most-watched telecast since March 21st (9.42 million) and best performance in adults 25-54 (2.03 million) since April 23rd.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt remains No. 1 in the advertiser-friendly A25-54 demo with a +3 percent lead on ABC World News Tonight. It has now ranked No. 1 in the demo for 14 of the last 15 weeks. That said, the newscast was -1 percent in total viewers and down -2 percent in the A25-54 demo vs. the comparable week last year.
CBS Evening News with Jeff Glor posted a -1 percent decline in total viewers and was -4 percent in A25-54 vs. last year.
Evening newscast numbers for the week of Oct. 8, 2018:
| Network | ABC | NBC | CBS |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,616,000 | 8,053,000 | 6,176,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,748,000 | 1,808,000 | 1,279,000 |