They may not be in growth mode, but 21 million people still tune in every night to watch one of the three network newscasts. And for the 14th season in a row, most Americans chose “NBC Nightly News.” Show EP Bob Epstein sent an email to his staff this afternoon about the win:
Thank you for all of your hard work, for making this the best newscast in America, and the best news division to work with.
Full note after the jump…
From: Epstein, Bob (NBC Universal)
Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2010 1:02 PM
To: @NBC Uni News Nightly Staff
Subject: Fourteen Seasons and counting!
To everyone at Nightly News:
With today’s ratings announcement, Nightly News marks fourteen consecutive seasons as the number one evening newscast. This is no small feat, and we could not have done it without you.
Your efforts have not gone unnoticed — as Jeff Zucker mentioned last week as he congratulated all of you on 52 weeks at the top.
Thank you for all of your hard work, for making this the best newscast in America, and the best news division to work with.
Below is today’s ratings announcement, everyone should feel so proud of this accomplishment.
– Bob
“NBC NIGHTLY NEWS WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS” NUMBER ONE NEWSCAST FOR FOURTEEN CONSECUTIVE SEASONS
“Nightly News” Beat ABC “World News” by 13% and CBS “Evening News” by 50% This Past Season
New York – September 21, 2010 – Last week’s ratings win marks fourteen consecutive seasons with “Nightly News” at number one, according to Nielsen Media Research data. For the season, “Nightly” saw 8.542 million total viewers, +13% (+1 million) more than “World News'” 7.542 million and +50% (+2.841 million) more than “Evening News'” 5.701 million. For the season, “Nightly” is celebrating its biggest ever total viewer season win over both “World News” and “Evening News.”
“NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams” was the most watched network evening newscast for the week of September 13 – September 19, 2010. During the week, “Nightly” saw 7.747 million total viewers, +859,000 more than ABC “World News,'” 6.888 million and +2.588 million more than CBS “Evening News'” 5.159 million.
Last week, “Nightly” also led in the key demo adults 25-54. “Nightly” delivered a 1.8 rating A25-54, ahead of “World News'” 1.5 and “Evening News'” 1.3. With 2.244 million A25-54 (000) viewers last week, the newscast beat “World News” by +337,000 viewers. This is the 95th consecutive week “Nightly” has topped “World News” in this key demo. For the 2009-2010 season, “Nightly” led “World News” by +433,000 A25-54 viewers, the biggest advantage since the 2001-2002 season.
As the number one network broadcast last week, “Nightly News” delivered a 5.2/11 Household rating, with “World News” in second place with a 4.7/10, and “Evening News” in third with a 3.5/8.
On its digital platforms, “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” continued its strong performance with more than 3.9 million online streams for the week ending September 18, 2010.
Bob Epstein is the executive producer of “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.” Aurelia Grayson is the senior broadcast producer. For more news and information about “Nightly News,” go to www.nightly.msnbc.com.