ABC World News Tonight with David Muir ended 2020 (and started 2021) on a high note, winning the week of Dec. 28, 2020 in total viewers (9.75 million) and among adults 25-54 (1.9 million). That’s now 40 consecutive weekly wins for ABC’s evening newscast in those aforementioned measurements, and 110 consecutive weeks at No. 1 exclusively in total viewers; more than 2 straight years as America’s most-watched evening newscast.
Compared to the prior week of Dec. 21, 2020 (let’s call it Christmas week), ABC’s flagship newscast was +2% in total viewers, and +6% among adults 25-54. Compared to the same week in 2019, (week of Dec. 30), the trend remained strong — up +11% in total viewers and +9% among adults 25-54.
It’s worth noting that World News Tonight is rated on a 2-day average (Tuesday and Wednesday) due to the holidays and Monday Night Football coverage.
For the week of Dec. 28, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged its largest total audience in 5 weeks ( 8.7 million total viewers) and its largest adults 25-54 audience in 8 weeks (1.8 million viewers) . Relative to the prior week, that’s +9% in total viewers, and +12% among adults 25-54. Compared to the same week in 2019, the newscast was +6% in total viewers, and +7% among adults. It also managed to average +38% more total viewers and +52% more adults 25-54 than its CBS counterpart in the evenings. Nightly News is also seeing an increase in viewership via YouTube. According to YouTube Analytics Portal, an additional 1.2 million viewers watched the newscast last week on YouTube. However, neither World News Tonight nor Evening News offer full episodes of their respective newscasts on YouTube.
It’s also worth noting that Nightly News’ ratings from last week are rated based on a 3-day average (Monday-Wednesday).
Speaking of that CBS News counterpart, the Norah O’Donnell-led CBS Evening News averaged 6.3 million total viewers and 1.2 million adults 25-54 last week. Pretty big numbers for the newscast. Relative to the prior week, that’s +10% in total viewers, and +10% among A25-54 demo viewers. The year-over-year story isn’t bad either, as the newscast was +11% in total viewers and +17% among adults 25-54.
CBS Evening News’ week of Dec. 28 ratings are based on a 2-day average (Mon-Tue) due to the Holidays.
Through 15 weeks this season, CBS Evening News is growing +3% on Total Viewers and +2% on the demo
Nielsen ratings for ABC, NBC and CBS include additional airings at various times during the day and in a variety of markets, large and small. They reflect the addition of out of home (OOH) viewership that began being measured on Aug. 31 across 44 markets tracked by Nielsen.
Below, the Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of Dec. 28:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 9,746,000 | 8,665,000 | 6,300,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,928,000 | 1,781,000 | 1,168,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 12/28/20), Previous Week (w/o 12/21/20) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 12/30/19). Most Current: 2020 -2021 Season (9/21/20 – 1/3/121 and Most Current: 2019 -2020 Season (9/23/19 – 1/5/20). 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.