The ABC and CBS evening newscasts posted week-to-week gains in the key A25-54 demographic, but saw a decline in total viewers. NBC’s evening offering, on the other hand, gained total viewers from the year-ago week, but lost viewers in multiple measurements from the prior week.
ABC World News Tonight with David Muir remained the top-rated evening newscast for the week, and has defeated its competition from NBC and CBS 220 of the past 221 weeks in average total viewers—and 149 of the last 151 weeks among adults 25-54. ABC’s evening newscast also topped all broadcast and cable TV programming in total audience this past week.
According to live plus same day data from Nielsen, World News Tonight averaged 8.34 million total linear viewers for the week of February 13, 2023, a -1% drop from the previous week (the week of Feb. 6). The program also averaged 1.34 million viewers from the key A25-54 demo, which is +1% from the prior week. Compared to the year-ago week (Feb. 14, 2022), World News Tonight posted substantial losses, -4% in total viewers but -16% in A25-54 demo. The year-ago week featured NBC’s coverage of the Beijing Winter Olympics, and ABC’s evening newscast absorbed a lot of Nightly News’ usual viewers during that time. With that in mind, a year-over-year drop off isn’t particularly surprising, although a -16% decline is still a bit alarming.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged 7.19 million total viewers on linear this past week, making it the fourth-most-watched regularly-scheduled show of the week—excluding sports, specials and syndication. The 7.19 million viewer average happens to represent the most narrow total viewer gap vs. ABC World News Tonight since the week of Dec. 19 of last year. However, it’s a -1% decline from what the newscast averaged the previous week. Among adults 25-54, NBC Nightly News averaged 1.155 million last week, which is -2% from the week prior. Nightly News gained total viewers from the year-ago week, the second week of Olympics coverage. The newscast is +3% in total viewers but -13% in the A25-54 demo from that week.
Additionally, according to data from Adobe Analytics and Partner Portals—and the YouTube Analytics Portal, full weekday episodes of Nightly News earned a solid average of 913,000 views and 725,000 total viewers streaming via YouTube.
Tom Llamas guest-anchored NBC Nightly News this past Friday.
The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 5.23 million total viewers this past week, a -2% loss from the previous week and -1% vs. the year-ago week. The newscast also averaged 805,000 adults 25-54 this past week, which is up +2% from the previous week but -7% vs. the year-ago week.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of Feb. 13, 2023:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,336,000 | 7,192,000 | 5,234,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,337,000 | 1,155,000 | 805,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 2/13/23), Previous Week (w/o 2/6/23) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 2/14/22). Most Current Data Stream: Season 2022-2023 (9/19/22 – 2/19/23), Season 2021-2022 (9/20/21 – 2/20/22). 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.