The week of January 30 was a less than stellar one for the evening newscasts, ratings-wise, as ABC, NBC and CBS posted week-to-week and year-over-year losses.
Nevertheless, 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 218 of the past 219 weeks in average total viewers—and 147 of the last 149 weeks among adults 25-54.
World News Tonight averaged 8.84 million total linear viewers this past week, a -2% drop from the previous week (the week of Jan. 23) but still the second-largest audience on all of U.S. television, excluding sports programming, of course. ABC’s evening newscast also averaged 1.42 million viewers from the key A25-54 demo this past week, which is -5% from the prior week. Compared to the year-ago week (Jan. 31, 2022), World News Tonight is -4% in total viewers and a whopping -18% in A25-54 demo, as Americans under 55 continue to leave linear TV news (and linear TV in general) at a much faster rate than their elders.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged 7.57 million total viewers on linear during the week of Jan. 30, making it the third-most-watched U.S. show of the week—excluding sports, specials and syndication. That 7.57 million viewer average happens to be a -2% decline what the newscast averaged the previous week. NBC Nightly News also averaged 1.22 million adults 25-54 last week, which is -6% from the week prior. Nightly is also -5% in total viewers and -15% in A25-54 from the year-ago week.
Additionally, according to data from Adobe Analytics and Partner Portals—and the YouTube Analytics Portal, full weekday episodes of Nightly News earned an average of 771,000 views and 605,000 total viewers streaming via YouTube.
The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 5.51 million total viewers this past week, -3% from the previous week and -6% vs. the year-ago week. The newscast also averaged 877,000 adults 25-54 this past week, which is -5% from the previous week and -14% from the year-ago week.
O’Donnell was out Tuesday and Wednesday. The NFL Today host/CBS News special correspondent James Brown guest-anchored the newscast those days.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of Jan. 30, 2023:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,837,000 | 7,567,000 | 5,506,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,424,000 | 1,222,000 | 877,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 1/30/23), Previous Week (w/o 1/23/23) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 1/31/22). Most Current Data Stream: Season 2022-2023 (9/19/22 – 2/5/23), Season 2021-2022 (9/20/21 – 2/6/22). 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.