ABC, NBC and CBS’ evening newscasts week to week viewer gains during the week of December 12.
Top-ranked ABC World News Tonight with David Muir held on to its No. 1 status in the evening news ratings race — meaning it has now defeated its competition from NBC and CBS 211 of the past 212 weeks in average total viewers—and 140 of the last 142 weeks among adults 25-54. The newscast averaged 8.68 million total linear viewers this past week, a +2% gain from the previous week (the week of Dec. 5) and No. 2 on all of U.S. television, excluding sports programming. WNT also averaged 1.41 million viewers from the key demo this past week, which is up +3% from the prior week. Compared to the same week in 2021, ABC’s evening newscast is +6% in total viewers—and up just short of +1% in A25-54 viewers.
World News Tonight ranked as the No. 1 evening newscast in 2022 in Total Viewers (8.16 million) for the sixth consecutive year, and in Adults 25-54 for the 3rd straight year.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt remains the second-ranked evening newscast, and saw substantially more week-to-week growth than its competitors. The newscast averaged 7.41 million total viewers this past week (No. 3 on U.S. TV excluding specials, sports and syndie) along with 1.28 million A25-54 during the week of Dec. 12. That’s a gain of +5% and +9%, respectively, from what the newscast drew in those measurements the previous week. Nightly News is -1% in total viewers—but +3% in A25-54 viewers from the year-ago week.
According to data from Adobe Analytics and Partner Portals—and the YouTube Analytics Portal, full weekday episodes of NBC Nightly News earned an average of 871,000 views and 676,000 total viewers streaming via YouTube.
CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 5.24 million total viewers this past week, which is +2% from the previous week—and +3% from the year-ago week. The newscast averaged 813,000 adults 25-54 this past week, which is in line with the previous week—but -4% from the year-ago week.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of Dec. 12, 2022:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,682,000 | 7,410,000 | 5,238,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,413,000 | 1,283,000 | 813,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54, and Adults 18-49 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 12/12/22), Previous Week (w/o 12/5/22) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 12/13/21). Most Current Data Stream: Season 2022-2023 (9/19 – 12/18/22), Season 2021-2022 (9/20 – 12/19/21). 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.