ABC World News Tonight with David Muir comfortably held on to its title as the No. 1 newscast in all of broadcast and cable for the week of Feb. 12, 2024, in total viewers and the advertiser-coveted demo of Adults 25-54.
Not only that, WNT was the only evening show to have over 1 million viewers in the Adults 25-54 demo, as it also posted some of its largest leads of the season in the demo over its timeslot competitors.
ABC World News Tonight averaged 8.026 million total viewers for the week of Feb. 12. This was a -1% drop from the previous week (the week beginning on Feb. 5), but the evening newscast averaged 1.167 million viewers from the key A25-54 demo, which was a +6% gain from the week before. Looking at the evening news show’s performance to the same week in 2023 (the week beginning Feb. 13), WNT was down in total viewers by -4% and fell by -13% in the A25-54 demo.
World News Tonight continues to enjoy its reign at the top, towering over its competition from NBC and CBS in 272 of the past 273 weeks in average total viewers—and 200 of the past 203 weeks among A25-54. Its lead over its competitors in the demo was the largest in seven months.
Meanwhile, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt came in second place in total viewers this past week, averaging 6.812 million viewers and 940,000 in A25-54. It rose by +1% in total viewers, hitting a three-week high, but fell by -7% in the A25-54 demo when compared to the previous week. When looking at its performance in the same week a year ago, Nightly News saw a decline in both total viewers and A25-54 with -5 % and -19%, respectively.
The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 5.224 million total viewers to remain the No. 3 evening newscast for the week of Feb. 12. CBSEN, like its morning sibling, benefited from the Super Bowl LVIII spillover effect as it was up by +4% from the previous week and was flat from the year-ago week. In the demo, the newscast averaged 832,000 viewers with a Super Bowl LVIII boost of +16% compared to the previous week and gained +3% viewers when looking at the year-ago week numbers. CBSEN was the only evening newscast to register week-to-week gains in both categories and the only program not to post a decline when comparing the same week a year ago numbers in total viewers and the A25-54 demo.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of Feb. 12, 2024:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,026,000 | 6,812,000 | 5,224,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,167,000 | 940,000 | 832,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 2/12/24), Previous Week (w/o 2/5/24) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 2/6/23). Most Current Data Stream: 2023-2024 Season (9/25/23 – 2/18/24) and 2022-2023 Season (9/19/22 – 2/12/23). 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.