ABC World News Tonight with David Muir is the highest-rated newscast for the fourth and final quarter of 2023, averaging more than 7.86 million total viewers and more than 1.10 million A25-54 viewers —marking 27 consecutive quarters as the most-watched evening newscast and 16 consecutive quarters as the top-rated evening newscast among Adults 25-54—since Q2 2017 and Q1 2020, respectively.
In Q4, World News Tonight gained +3% in average total audience but lost -3% in A25-54 viewers from the previous quarter (Q3, ’23), with those quarterly losses in the demo perhaps driven by the exclusion of World News Tonight Monday broadcasts as a result of Monday Night Football simulcasting on ABC in Q4. The ratings trend for World News Tonight was worse relative to the year-ago quarter (Q4 of 2022), as World News Tonight shed -6% in total viewers and lost -21% in A25-54 viewers from Q4 of last year.
The NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged more than 6.87 million total viewers (No. 3 among all regularly-scheduled U.S. broadcast and cable non-sports programming) and nearly 1.06 million A25-54 viewers in the fourth quarter of 2023. That represents a +10% gain in average total viewers and a +5% gain in A25-54 viewers from the prior quarter (Q3 ’23). In fact, Nightly News was able to improve its A25-54 gap vs. ABC for the sixth consecutive quarter and saw its closest A25-54 and total viewer gaps vs. ABC in four years. That said, NBC Nightly News slumped relative to the year-ago quarter, losing -13% in A25-54 viewers and shed -4% in average total viewers.
According to data from Adobe Analytics and Partner Portals—and the YouTube Analytics Portal, full weekday episodes of NBC Nightly News earned an average of 870,000 views and 683,000 total viewers streaming via YouTube.
Lastly, CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged nearly 4.82 million total viewers and 682,000 A25-54 viewers in Q4 2023. That’s am +8% bump in total viewers and +2% bump among Adults 25-54 vs. the prior quarter. Compared to fourth quarter of 2022, however, the newscast was down by -4% in total viewers, and -16% in A25-54 viewers, as Americans continue to leave the linear network newscasts on an annual basis.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for Q4 2023:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,863,000 | 6,782,000 | 4,816,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,103,000 | 1,056,000 | 684,000 |
How about the week between Christmas and New Year’s? (Which in 2023, started on Christmas Day.)
Well, top-ranked ABC World News Tonight with David Muir won the holiday week–the final week of the 2023 calendar year and Nielsen year–not only in average total viewers but also in the Adults 25-54 demo. This comes one week after World News Tonight lost to NBC in the A25-54 demo for the first time since March 2020.
By winning the week of Dec. 25, 2023 both in total viewers and A25-54, ABC’s evening newscast has defeated its competition from NBC and CBS for 265 of the past 266 weeks in average total viewers—and 193 of the past 196 weeks among adults 25-54.
With Whit Johnson as guest anchor for the full week, World News Tonight averaged more than 7.64 million total linear viewers during the holiday week, a solid gain of +0.2% from the previous week (the week of Dec. 18) and No. _ on across all of U.S. broadcast and cable television, excluding sports programming. WNT also averaged 1.08 million viewers from the key A25-54 demo for the week, which is up a solid +10% from the prior week. On the downside, compared to the same week in 2022, ABC’s evening newscast shed -9% in total viewers—and -20% in A25-54 viewers.
World News Tonight finished 2022 as the No. 1 evening newscast in Total Viewers for the seventh consecutive year, and No. 1 in Adults 25-54 for the fourth straight year,
With Tom Llamas (Tuesday-Friday) and Sam Brock (Monday) serving as guest anchors, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt finished holiday week as the second-ranked evening newscast, averaging 6.285 million total viewers along with one million A25-54 viewers. That’s a decline of -8% and -5%, respectively, from what the newscast drew in those measurements the week prior. Nightly News also lost -13% in total viewers—and -17% in A25-54 viewers relative to the year-ago week; although it did win Wednesday, Dec. 27 in the key demo.
According to data from Adobe Analytics and Partner Portals—and the YouTube Analytics Portal, full weekday episodes of NBC Nightly News earned an average of 749,000 views and 584,000 total viewers streaming via YouTube.
With Major Garrett (Monday, Thursday, Friday), Jericka Duncan (Tuesday, Wednesday) serving as guest anchors, the CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged nearly 4.87 million total viewers this past week, which is down just -0.7% from the previous week—and -6% from the year-ago week. The newscast also averaged 698,000 adults 25-54 this past week, which is a gain of +2.5% from the previous week—but a -10% loss from the year-ago week.
On Monday (12/25/23), World News Tonight was pre-empted due to NBA, while CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News were coded as specials due to Christmas. On Friday, Dec. 29, all three programs were retitled due to the New Year’s Day weekend. The specials and retitled telecasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages. ABC’s, CBS’ and NBC’s weekly averages are based on three days (Tuesday-Thursday).
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of Dec. 25, 2023:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,641,000 | 6,285,000 | 4,866,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,081,000 | 1,000,000 | 698,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 12/25/23), Previous Week (w/o 12/18/23) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 12/19/22). Most Current Data Stream: 2022-2023 Season (9/25 – 12/31/22) and 2022-2023 Season (9/19 – 12/25/22). 4Q23: 9/25/23 – 12/31/22, 3Q22: 6/27 – 9/18/22 and 4Q22: 9/19/22 – 12/25/22. 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.