2025-2026 Season
ABC World News Tonight with David Muir finished the 2025-2026 TV broadcast season as America’s most-watched newscast in total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo.
The close of the broadcast season also marked a key milestone for WNT as it celebrated a decade as the No. 1 newscast in total viewers. In addition, it drew its largest viewership in five years, since the 2020-2021 season.
This broadcast season also saw WNT and NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas grow year over year in total viewers and the prized Adults 25-54 demo, while CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil, set to mark a full year under Bari Weiss‘ helm, lost viewers in both measured categories.
According to Nielsen Media Research, when comparing its performance to the 2024-2025 season, ABC News’ World News Tonight had 8.472 million total viewers, a +12% increase in total viewers, and +2% in the A25-54 demo, which had 1.071 million viewers.
NBC Nightly News averaged 6.54 million total viewers and 949,000 A25-54 viewers for the just-concluded season. The newscast was up +9% in total viewers and +8% in the demo compared to 2025–Nightly News recorded its closest gap with WNT in seven years in the demo.
CBS Evening News finished the season averaging 4.04 million total viewers and 525,000 A25-54 viewers. It was down -3% in total viewers and -11% in the demo vs. the 2025 season—the only newscast with double-digit declines.
*Please note that year-over-year comparisons are based on Nielsen Big Data+Panel (2026) vs. Panel (2025) measurements.
2025 – 2026 Season (Nielsen Big Data + Panel):
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
| • Total Viewers: | 8,472,000 | 6,540,000 | 4,040,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,071,000 | 949,000 | 525,000 |
Third Quarter 2026
Examining the quarterly ratings, World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News ended the third quarter with gains in both total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo, while CBS Evening News registered positive momentum only in total viewers.
America celebrated its 250th birthday during this period, which also featured the second half of the FIFA World Cup 2026 tournament. Viewers also stayed engaged with the evening news telecasts, driven by continued interest in the state of the U.S. economy and unrest in the Middle East.
According to Nielsen Media Research, World News Tonight finished the third quarter with 8.394 million total viewers and 1.103 million viewers in the A25-54 demo. When put against the second quarter, WNT was up +2% in total viewers and +9% in the demo. Compared to the year-ago quarter (Q3 2025), the ratings trend for ABC News’ broadcast showed an increase of +16% in total viewers and +14% in the demo.
NBC Nightly News averaged 6.632 million total viewers and 1 million A25-54 viewers during the just-concluded quarter. The newscast grew by +4% in total viewers and +8% in the demo when compared to the prior quarter. Checking its performance relative to the year-ago quarter, it was up +19% in total viewers and +27% in the A25-54 demo.
Finally, CBS Evening News averaged 3.929 million total viewers and 527,000 A25-54 viewers in Q3 2026. It saw gains of +1% in total viewers but fell by -1% in the demo vs. the prior quarter—the only newscast with losses in one of the measured segments during this period. Compared to the third quarter of 2025, CBS Evening News grew by +3% in total viewers and +1% among the A25-54 demo.
*Please note that year-over-year comparisons are based on Nielsen Big Data+Panel (2026) vs. Panel (2025) measurements.
Third Quarter, 2026 (Nielsen Big Data + Panel):
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
| • Total Viewers: | 8,394,000 | 6,632,000 | 3,929,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,103,000 | 1,000,000 | 527,000 |
Week of September 14
All three evening news broadcasts recorded week-to-week growth in both total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo for the week of September 14.
The demo battle between WNT and NBC Nightly News shows no signs of abating, with 86,000 demo viewers separating the two newscasts.
NOTE: All three morning shows were retitled on Friday (09/18/26). In addition, NBC Nightly News was retitled to NBC Nitely News on Monday (09/14/2026). These retitled telecasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages. NBC News’weekly average is based on three days (Tuesday to Thursday), while ABC News and CBS News’ weekly averages are based on four days (Monday to Thursday).
According to live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen, ABC World News Tonight averaged 8.167 million total viewers for the week of September 14. Compared to the previous week, it grew by +2% in total viewers and +4% in the A25-54 demo, which had 1,151,000 viewers. Looking at its performance to the same week in 2025 (the week beginning September 15), WNT was up +17% in total viewers and +37% in the demo.
NBC Nightly News was No. 2 in total viewers and the demo, averaging 6.582 million total viewers and 1.065 million demo viewers. NBC News’ evening news program is keeping it close with WNT, as the two telecasts are separated by 86,000 demo viewers. Meanwhile, Nightly News was up +2% in total viewers and +6% in the A25-54 demo compared to the previous week. When looking at how it fared compared to the same week a year ago, Nightly News was up in total viewers by +19% and +34% in the demo.
CBS Evening News had 4.003 million total viewers and 599,000 viewers in the demo for the week of Sept. 14. The broadcast had gains of +3% in total viewers and +8% in the demo compared to the previous week. Its year-ago week numbers saw it grow +6% in total viewers and +13% in the demo.
*Please note that year-over-year comparisons are based on Nielsen Big Data+Panel (2026) vs. Panel (2025) measurements.
September 14, 2026 (Nielsen Big Data + Panel):
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
| • Total Viewers: | 8,167,000 | 6,582,000 | 4,003,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,151,000 | 1,065,000 | 599,000 |
Source: Nielsen Big Data + Panel, L+SD, Week of 9/7/2026. Season dates: Most Current Data Stream: 2025-2026 Season (9/22/25 – 9/20/26) and 2024-2025 Season (9/23/24 – 9/21/25). L+7/Most Current – 3Q26: 6/29 – 9/21/26, 2Q26: 3/30 – 6/28/26 and 3Q25: 6/30 – 9/21/25, 2Q25, Average audience based on regularly titled telecasts only.
