Week of Feb. 19 Evening News Ratings: World News Tonight Is Top Program for 2nd Straight Week

By Mark Mwachiro 

ABC World News Tonight with David Muir continues to be the No. 1 newscast in all of broadcast and cable for the week of Feb. 19, 2024, in total viewers and the advertiser-coveted demo of Adults 25-54.

This was the second week in a row WNT achieved this status; however, ABC News’ evening newscast experienced week-to-week declines in the demo despite being the only newscast to crack the 1 million viewer barrier. It was not alone in this department. Its timeslot competitors, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt and CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell, also failed to register week-to-week gains.

World News Tonight averaged 7.792 million total viewers for the week of Feb. 19. This was a -3% drop from the previous week (the week beginning on Feb. 12). The evening newscast averaged 1.054 million viewers from the key A25-54 demo, but it recorded a double-digit decline of -10% from the week before. Looking at the evening news show’s performance to the same week in 2023 (the week beginning Feb. 20), WNT was down in total viewers by -6% and fell by -16% in the A25-54 demo.

Advertisement

Despite the declines, World News Tonight continues to beat its competition, winning 273 of the past 274 weeks in average total viewers and 201 of the past 204 weeks among A25-54.

Meanwhile, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt came in second place in total viewers this past week, averaging 6.562 million viewers and 937,000 in A25-54. It dropped by -4% in total viewers but was flat percentage-wise in the A25-54 demo when compared to the previous week. It was the only evening show not to experience week-to-week declines in the demo.

When looking at its performance in the same week a year ago, Nightly News saw a decline in both total viewers and A25-54, posting -9% and -20%, respectively.

The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 4.806 million total viewers to remain in third place for the week of Feb. 19. It was down by -8% from the previous week and dropped by -5% from the year-ago week. In the demo, the newscast averaged 668,000 viewers, falling sharply by -20% compared to the previous week. It also declined by -14% when looking at the year-ago week numbers. Any halo effect from the Super Bowl appeared to dissipate for CBS News’ evening newscast.

Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of Feb. 19, 2024:

ABC NBC CBS
• Total Viewers: 7,792,000 6,562,000 4,806,000
• A25-54: 1,054,000 937,000 668,000

 

 

 

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 2/19/24), Previous Week (w/o 2/12/24) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 2/13/23). Most Current Data Stream: 2023-2024 Season (9/25/23 – 2/25/24) and 2022-2023 Season (9/19/22 – 2/19/23). 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.

Advertisement