Nielsen data for the week of Aug. 16, 2021 is in, and ABC World News Tonight with David Muir remains the top evening newscast, both in total viewers and among adults 25-54.
World News Tonight finished the week by averaging 8.02 million total viewers (the largest average audience of any show on TV), and 1.51 million adults 25-54.
ABC’s evening newscast grew in viewership from the previous week, both in average total viewers (+2%), and in the key A25-54 demo (+5%), perhaps driven by coverage of the crisis in Afghanistan. Compared to the same week during the news-heavy year of 2020, World News Tonight shed -2% of its average total audience, and -5% of its A25-54 demo audience.
Season to date, World News Tonight (8.795 million) is the most-watched evening newscast for the 5th consecutive season, based on most current Nielsen data.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged 6.47 million from the A25-54 demo, and 1.18 million total viewers this past week, making it the third-most-watched show on all of TV last week. On the downside, the broadcast lost -2% in adults 25-54 and -1% in average total viewers from the prior week (Aug. 9). Nightly fell by -12% in A25-54 viewers, but only -2% in average total viewers compared to the same week in 2020.
Additionally, on YouTube, weekday episodes of Nightly News earned 887,000 views and 732,000 viewers last week watching for an average of 12 minutes. Tuesday’s episode (Aug. 17) is Nightly’s highest-performing episode since May with more than 1.2 million video views and 1 million viewers. That’s according to data from Adobe Analytics and Partner Portals, and the YouTube Analytics Portal.
CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 4.82 million total viewers, and 972,000 adults 25-54 for the week of Aug. 16. That represents +2% growth in total viewers, and an impressive +13% growth in adults 25-54 from the prior week (the most significant week-to-week growth since March). CBS Evening News fell -2% in average total viewers but +14% in A25-54 from the year ago week. CBS seemed to benefit more from Afghanistan coverage than its competition did.
CBS Evening ranked as the most-watched program on CBS every day last week and in the A25-54 demo Monday and Tuesday.
That said, CBS’ evening newscast once again chose to retitle on a Summer Friday. ABC and NBC rated all five days.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of August 16:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,017,000 | 6,473,000 | 4,819,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,510,000 | 1,180,000 | 972,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54. Live + SD Current Week (w/o 8/16/21), Previous Week (w/o 8/92/21) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 8/17/20). Most Current: 2020 -2021 Season (9/21/20-8/16/21) and 2019-2020 Season (9/23/13-8/15/20). 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.