This past week, ABC, NBC and CBS’ evening newscasts averaged more viewers than usual.
World News Tonight with David Muir delivered another ratings win for ABC this past week. The newscast’s margin of victory was substantial in terms of total viewers, but less so in terms of Adults 25-54.
WNT averaged 7.9 million total viewers and 1.18 million A25-54 viewers during the week of August 28, 2023, per Nielsen live plus same day data. That 7.9 million average is +3% from what the newscast averaged the previous week (August 21), while its 1.18 million average in the demo is +2% from the week earlier and the newscast’s largest delivery in the A25-54 measurement since April 2023.
Relative to the same week in 2022, World News Tonight is up +6% in total viewers but shed -7% in A25-54 viewers, as World News Tonight continues its trend of losing viewers under 55 on an annual basis.
Despite this mixed trend, with this past week’s performance, ABC’s evening newscast has now defeated its competition from NBC and CBS 248 of the past 249 weeks in average total viewers—and 177 of the last 179 weeks among Adults 25-54.
Elsewhere on broadcast news, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt had a strong week of Aug. 28. The newscast delivered its largest average total audience since April (6.5 million viewers, +5% from the prior week), and its largest A25-54 viewership since February (1.12 million, +11% from the prior week). NBC Nightly News finished No. 1 in the key A25-54 demo on Wednesday, Aug. 30 with 1.215 million viewers, topping World News Tonight by +28,000 demo viewers.
NBC Nightly News also gained viewers from the year-ago week, +6% in total viewers and a solid +14% in A25-54 viewers.
Additionally, NBC Nightly News’ weekday episodes on YouTube drew roughly one million total views and 777,000 total viewers.
The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged more than 4.75 million total viewers and 756,000 Adults 25-54 for the week of August 28. That’s a gain of +2% in total viewers and +3% in A25-54 viewers from the previous week. Similar to NBC, CBS Evening News also gained total viewers and A25-54 viewers from the year-ago week, up by +12% and +10%, in those respective measurements.
Lastly, on Friday, September 1, World News Tonight was retitled to “WNT-ABC,” CBS Evening News was retitled to “CBS Evening Nws,” and NBC Nightly News was retitled to “NBC Nitely News” due to the Labor Day weekend. The retitled telecasts are excluded from the week and season averages. ABC’s, CBS’ and NBC’s averages are based on four days (Monday-Thursday). This was also true for the comparable week in 2022.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of August 28, 2023:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,899,000 | 6,504,000 | 4,747,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,183,000 | 1,116,000 | 756,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54, and Adults 18-49 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 8/28/23), Previous Week (w/o 8/21/23) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 8/29/22). Most Current Data Stream: Season 2022-2023 (9/19/22-9/3/23) and Season 2021-2022 (9/20/21-9/4/2023). 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.