The three major evening newscasts continue to attract huge total audiences, but they’re losing adults 25-54.
ABC World News Tonight with David Muir was the most-watched show on U.S. TV (excluding syndication) this past week of April 18, averaging 8.16 million total viewers and 1.38 million adults 25-54, as per live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen.
With its performance this past week, ABC’s evening newscast has now defeated its competition from NBC and CBS 177 of the past 178 weeks in average total viewers—and 106 of the last 108 weeks among adults 25-54.
World News Tonight shed -1% in total viewers from the week of April 11, but gained +1% from the same week in 2021 (April 19). The lost adults 25-54 from the previous week (-7%), and from the year-ago week (-12%).
On Friday, April 22, World News Tonight was retitled to “WNT-ABC” due to Game 4 of the NBA Playoffs between Milwaukee and Chicago. The retitled telecast is excluded from the weekly and season averages. As a result, WNT’s weekly averages are based on four days (Monday-Thursday), whereas NBC Nightly News and CBS Evening News’ ratings are based on all five days.
Speaking of NBC Nightly News, the Lester Holt-helmed newscast averaged 6.675 million total viewers on NBC this past week. That’s -2% from the previous week, but +2% from the comparable week in 2021. The evening newscast also averaged 1.10 million adults 25-54 this past week, which is -5% vs. the previous week, and -11% from the year-ago week.
On YouTube, full episodes of NBC Nightly News reached an average of 828,000 video views and 645,000 video viewers last week. That’s according to Adobe Analytics and Partner Portals; YouTube Analytics Portal.
The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged more than 4.92 million total viewers and 791,000 adults 25-54 for the week of April 18. That’s +4% in total viewers, but -3% among adults 25-54 from the previous week. The year-over-year rating trend was worse, with Evening News shedding less than -1% in total viewers, and -5% of its A25-54 audience from the year-ago week (April 19, 2021).
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of April 18, 2022:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,160,000 | 6,675,000 | 4,924,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,378,000 | 1,104,000 | 791,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54, Live + SD Current Week (w/o 4/18/22), Previous Week (w/o 4/11/22) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 4/19/21). Most Current: 2021-2022 Season (9/20/21 – 4/24/22) and 2020-2021 Season (9/21/20 – 4/25/21). Nielsen ratings for ABC, NBC and CBS include additional airings in select markets. Effective 8/31/20, national ratings also include Out of Home (OOH) viewing. Averages based on regular telecasts.