World News Tonight with David Muir delivered another ratings win for ABC this past week.
WNT averaged 7.66 million total viewers and 1.16 million A25-54 viewers during the week of August 14, 2023, as per Nielsen live plus same day data. Its 7.66 million average is +0.1% from what the newscast averaged the previous week (August 14), while its 1.16 million average in the demo is flat from that week. Relative to the same week in 2022, World News Tonight gained +6% in total viewers but shed -5% in A25-54 viewers, as linear news continues to lose Americans under 55 years of age on an annual basis.
Despite the mixed trend, with this past week’s performance, ABC’s evening newscast has now defeated its competition from NBC and CBS 247 of the past 248 weeks in average total viewers—and 176 of the last 178 weeks among Adults 25-54.
Elsewhere on broadcast news, for the week of August 21, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged 6.20 million total viewers (a nine-week high) and one million Adults 25-54. That represents a +5% gain in total viewers and a +0.8% gain in A25-54 viewers from the week before. NBC Nightly News also gained viewers from the year-ago week, +2% in total viewers and +2% in A25-54 viewers.
Additionally, NBC Nightly News weekday episodes on YouTube drew 876,100 viewers and 717,000 total viewers.
The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell had a solid ratings week, averaging more than 4.63 million total viewers and 737,000 Adults 25-54 for the week of August 21 — which is +5% in total viewers and +6.5% in A25-54 viewers from the previous week. The newscast is also +4% in average total viewers and +2% in A25-54 viewers from the year-ago week.
Lastly, on Thursday, Aug. 24, NBC Nightly News was retitled to “NBC Nitely News” due to a special report on former President Trump’s surrender in Fulton County, Ga. On Friday, Aug. 25, World News Tonight was retitled to “WNT-ABC,” and CBS Evening News was retitled to CBS-Evening Nws.” The retitled telecasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages. As a result, ABC’s (Monday-Thursday), CBS’ (Monday-Thursday) and NBC’s (Monday-Wednesday and Friday) weekly averages are based on four days.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of August 21, 2023:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,664,000 | 6,202,000 | 4,634,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,160,000 | 1,003,000 | 737,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 8/21/23), Previous Week (w/o 8/14/23) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 8/22/22). Most Current Data Stream: Season 2022-2023 (9/19/22-8/27/23) and Season 2021-2022 (9/20/21-8/28/2023). Live. 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.