ABC World News Tonight with David Muir continues to win the evening news ratings race, with all three network newscasts delivering week-to-week total viewer gains, but losing Adults 25-54.
Per live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen, World News Tonight averaged 8.71 million total linear viewers for the week of Jan. 8, 2024, +4% from the previous week (the week beginning on New Year’s Day) and the No. 1 program on across all of U.S. broadcast and cable television, excluding sports. ABC’s evening newscast also averaged 1.14 million viewers from the key A25-54 demo for the week, which is -5% from the week before. WNT shed -4% in total viewers—and -24% in A25-54 viewers versus the year-ago week (Jan. 9 2023), as the unfortunate trend of shedding linear viewers from the year prior continues into 2024.
Nevertheless, World News Tonight has now defeated its competition from NBC and CBS 267 of the past 268 weeks in average total viewers—and 195 of the past 198 weeks among adults 25-54.
Second-place NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged 7.28 million total viewers (a seven-week high) and 1.1 million A25-54 viewers for the week beginning Jan. 8. Nightly also happened to be the No. 1 program in all of TV in the demo on Monday, Jan. 8. (1.18 million viewers). Relative to the week prior, Nightly News gained +1% in total viewers but shed -4% in Adults 25-54. Similar to its ABC rival, Nightly News posted year-over-year losses in both measurements. The newscast shed -3% in total viewers—and -17% in A25-54 viewers relative to the year-ago week.
Additionally, according to data from Adobe Analytics and Partner Portals—and the YouTube Analytics Portal, full weekday episodes of NBC Nightly News earned an average of 953,000 views and 714,000 total viewers streaming via YouTube.
The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 5.34 million total viewers for the week of Jan. 8, 2024. That’s +6% from the previous week, but -4% from the year-ago week. The newscast also averaged 781,000 adults 25-54 this past week, which is +11% from the previous week, but -12% from the year-ago week.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of Jan. 8, 2024:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,708,000 | 7,277,000 | 5,336,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,138,000 | 1,097,000 | 781,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 1/8/24), Previous Week (w/o 1/1/24) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 1/2/23). Most Current Data Stream: 2023-2024 Season (9/25/23 – 1/14/24) and 2022-2023 Season (9/19/22 – 1/8/23). 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.
*On Wednesday, Jan. 10, World News Tonight was retitled to “WNT-ABC” due to ABC’s coverage of the NBA. The retitled telecast is excluded from the weekly and season averages. ABC’s weekly averages are based on four days (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday).