When it came to the first quarter of 2022, the war in Ukraine was the No. 1 story and ABC World News Tonight with David Muir was the No. 1 evening newscast.
According to live plus same day data from Nielsen, ABC’s evening newscast averaged 8.88 million total viewers and 1.66 million adults 25-54 in Q1 ’22. This means World News Tonight has averaged the largest total audience of any evening newscast for 20 consecutive quarters—since Q2 2017.
Additionally, World News Tonight led the evening news landscape for the 8th straight quarter in all key target demos (since Q2 2020) and saw growth in viewers vs. the prior quarter (Q4 ’21), +8% in total viewers and +12% in adults 25-54.
Those are the positives. On the downside, World News Tonight was -8% in total viewers and -13% in adults 25-54 from the same quarter one year ago (Q1 2021), a highly-rated quarter which included the Jan. 6 insurrection (and its aftermath) as well as an in-depth coverage of a presidential inauguration and the early stages of a new administration.
The newscast also shed -6% in total viewers and -16% among adults 25-54 vs. Q1 2018. Linear TV news viewership among Americans under 50 continues to decline on an annual basis, so the significant ratings difference from this time four years ago isn’t shocking.
Over on NBC, Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged 7.79 million total viewers and 1.38 million from the key A25-54 demo in Q1 ’22.
While Nightly remains a distant second in the evening news ratings race, it did gain a bit of ground on its ABC rival, growing its average total audience from Q4 ’21 by +9% (ABC grew +8% from Q4, while CBS grew +7% from Q4, aided by in-depth coverage of the war in Ukraine).
On the downside, NBC’s evening newscast was -2% in total viewers and -12% in the key A25-54 demo from Q1 2021. The trend is worse relative to four years ago, as Nightly News shed -12% in total viewers and -34% among adults 25-54.
Unlike, ABC’s and CBS’ evening newscasts, NBC’s flagship newscast streams full episodes on YouTube and is able to garner some additional eyeballs that way (eyeballs which aren’t measured by Nielsen). On YouTube, Nightly’s full episodes reached an average of 627,000 viewers, and 795,000 viewers in Q1. That’s according to data from Adobe Analytics and Partner Portals, and the YouTube Analytics Portal.
The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 5.42 million total viewers and 921,000 adults 25-54 in Q1. That’s +7% in total viewers and +5% among adults 25-54 from Q4 2021. The newscast shed -10% in total viewers and -19% among adults 25-54 from the year-ago quarter, -21% in total viewers and -37% among adults 25-54 from four years ago; sharper losses than what ABC and NBC experienced.
The 3 major evening newscasts averaged a combined 22.1 million total viewers in Q1 2022, a +8% change from Q4 ’21, but -6% from Q1 ’21, and -12% from the same quarter four years ago (Q1 2018).
The averages for Q1 2022:
| Network | ABC | NBC | CBS |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,878,000 | 7,786,000 | 5,421,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,660,000 | 1,383,000 | 921,000 |
How about the final week of the quarter, which started March 21?
ABC World News Tonight with David Muir remained No. 1 in the evenings, averaging 8.28 million total viewers and 1.48 million adults 25-54, as per live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen.
ABC’s evening newscast has now defeated its competition from NBC and CBS 173 of the past 174 weeks in average total viewers—and 102 of the last 104 weeks among adults 25-54.
World News Tonight gained more viewers from the previous week than its competitors, up +4% in total viewers and +10% in adults 25-54 from the week of March 14. Compared with the same week in 2021 (March 22), however, the Muir-led newscast shed -2% in average total audience and -10% among adults 25-54.
Muir anchored special editions of World News Tonight from the Ukraine-Poland border on Wednesday, March 23, Thursday, March 24 and from Warsaw, Poland, on Friday, March 25.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged 6.83 million total viewers (No. 3 among regularly-scheduled U.S. programming) with 1.26 million adults 25-54 during the week of March 21. That’s +2% in total viewers and +8% in adults 25-54 from the previous week. Compared to the same week in 2021 (March 22), the newscast shed only -1% in total viewers and -1% among adults 25-54.
On YouTube, full episodes of NBC Nightly News reached an average of 1 million views and 770,000 viewers last week. That’s according to Adobe Analytics and Partner Portals; YouTube Analytics Portal.
With President Biden abroad, Holt anchored Nightly News on Wednesday and Thursday from Brussels and on Friday from Poland.
The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 4.87 million total viewers and 826,000 adults 25-54 for the week of March 21. That’s -3% in total viewers and -3% among adults 25-54 from the previous week.
The year-over-year ratings trend was worse, with Evening News losing -7% in average total viewers and -14% of its A25-54 audience.
It is worth keeping in mind that Thursday, March 24, and Friday, March 25, CBS Evening News was coded as a breakout due to coverage of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The telecasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages—and CBS Evening News’ weekly averages for last week are based on just three days of shows (Monday-Wednesday).
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of March 21, 2022:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,282,000 | 6,831,000 | 4,867,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,483,000 | 1,259,000 | 826,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 3/21/22), Previous Week (w/o 3/14/22) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 3/22/21). Most Current: 2021-2022 Season (9/20/21 – 3/27/22) and 2020-2021 Season (9/21/20 – 3/28/21). Most Current – 1Q22: 12/27/21 – 3/27/22, 1Q21: 12/28/20 – 3/28/21 and 4Q21: 9/20/21 – 12/26/21. Nielsen ratings for ABC, NBC and CBS include additional airings in select markets. Beginning 8/31/20, national ratings also include Out of Home (OOH) viewing. Averages based on regular telecasts.