Outside of sports (Hello, NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament), ABC News’ World News Tonight with David Muir was America’s most-watched program on all of broadcast and cable for the week of April 1, 2024. It remained the most-watched newscast in the advertiser-coveted demo of Adults 25-54, which means WNT’s lead has now stretched to the last 278 of 279 weeks in total viewers and 206 of the last 209 in the demo.
WNT also has its largest lead over NBC News’ evening news program in over eight months.
In other updates, WNT and CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell were the only evening newscast to post week-to-week gains in Adults 25-54, while NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt was the only broadcast to see declines in both total viewers and A25-54.
ABC World News Tonight averaged 7.830 million total viewers for the week of April 1. The newscast was flat from the previous week but had 1.097 million viewers in the demo, a +4% gain from the week before. Looking at the evening news show’s performance to the same week in 2023 (the week beginning April 3), WNT was down in total viewers by -1% and dropped by -10% in the A25-54 demo.
Meanwhile, Nightly News was the No. 2 newscast in total viewers and the demo this past week, averaging 6.203 million viewers and 883,000 viewers in A25-54. It fell by -6% in total viewers and -4% in the A25-54 demo compared to the previous week. When looking at its performance in the same week a year ago, Nightly News saw a decline in both total viewers and A25-54, dropping by -7 % and -16%, respectively.
CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell had 4.780 million total viewers for the week of April 1. It declined by -3% from the previous week and by -1% from the year-ago week. The newscast had 760,000 viewers in the demo, up +6% from the previous week, but saw a drop of -5% when looking at the year-ago week numbers.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of April 1, 2024:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,830,000 | 6,203,000 | 4,780,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,097,000 | 883,000 | 760,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 4/1/24), Previous Week (w/o 3/25/24) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 3/27/23). Most Current Data Stream: 2023-2024 Season (9/25/23 – 4/7/24) and 2022-2023 Season (9/19/22 – 4/2/23). 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.