ABC World News Tonight with David Muir remained No. 1 in the evenings (and No. 2 among regularly-scheduled/non syndicated U.S. programming) this past week, averaging 7.93 million total viewers and 1.4 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 175 of the past 176 weeks in average total viewers—and 104 of the last 106 weeks among adults 25-54.
Despite the significant margin of victory in the key A25-54 demo, World News Tonight lost -8% in the measurement from the previous week (March 28, 2022), and -13% from the same week in 2021 (April 5). The Muir-led newscast lost -5% in average total audience from the previous week and -3% from the year-ago week.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged 6.73 million total viewers (No. 4 among regularly-scheduled/non-syndicated U.S. programming) during the week of April 4. That’s -4% from the previous week, but +4% from the comparable week in 2021. Nightly News was the only one of the three major evening newscasts to post year-over-year growth in total viewers. The evening newscast also averaged 1.11 million adults 25-54 during the week of April 4, which is -11% vs. the prior week (March 28) and -5% from the year-ago week (April 5, 2021).
On YouTube, full episodes of NBC Nightly News reached an average of 906,000 views and 719,000 viewers last week. That’s according to Adobe Analytics and Partner Portals; YouTube Analytics Portal.
The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 4.78 million total viewers and 787,000 adults 25-54 for the week of April 5. That’s -4% in total viewers and -9% among adults 25-54 from the previous week. The year-over-year ratings trend was less-than-stellar as well, with Evening News shedding -5% in total viewers and -10% among adults 25-54.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of April 4, 2022:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,927,000 | 6,732,000 | 4,782,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,397,000 | 1,109,000 | 787,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 4/4/22), Previous Week (w/o 3/28/22) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 4/5/21). Most Current: 2021-2022 Season (9/20/21 – 4/10/22) and 2020-2021 Season (9/21/20 – 4/11/21). 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.