ABC World News Tonight with David Muir finished the week of July 13 as not only the No. 1 evening newscast among both Total Viewers and Adults 25-54, but also as the most-watched show on U.S. television.
For WNT, that’s 16 straight weeks at No. 1 among the evening newscasts, and seven straight weeks as the most-watched show on U.S. TV.
World News Tonight averaged 8.96 million Total Viewers and 1.66 million A25-54 viewers for the week. Overall, it is having its most-watched season in 17 years and strongest key Adults 25-54 performances in five years—since the 2003-04 and the 2015-16 seasons, respectively.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt continues to finish in second place behind WNT in the key measurements, averaging 7.64 million Total Viewers and 1.52 million Adults 25-54. It remained the second-most-watched show on all of U.S. television (excluding syndication) and No. 3 on U.S. TV among Adults 25-54.
Nightly News was the only one of the three evening newscasts to post week-to-week growth. It grew from the prior week (July 6) by +1% in Total Viewers and by +2% in the key A25-54 demo. It also grew from the year-ago week, +11% in Total Viewers and +1% in A25-54 demo viewers.
For the week of July 13, first-run broadcasts of The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 5.26 million Total Viewers and 949,000 A25-54 viewers. Including the 4 a.m. reruns, that number grows to 5.80 million Total Viewers and 1.12 million Adults 25-54.
After a string of solid weeks, last week was less than spectacular for Evening News. The newscast fell from the prior week, both in Total Viewers (-3%) and in the A25-54 demo (-5%). Relative to the year-ago week (July 15, 2019), Evening News was down in the demo (-3%), but managed to stay flat in Total Viewers.
Unlike ABC and NBC, Evening News’ numbers for the week are based on a four-day average. The network has made a habit of retitling its Friday broadcasts this summer.
Top-ranked ABC World News Tonight saw some week-to-week losses as well. The newscast was -1% in Total Viewers and -4% in the A25-54 demo. However, the broadcast remained strong compared with the year-ago week, +12% in Total Viewers and +8% in the 25-54 demo.
*Nielsen ratings for ABC, NBC and CBS include additional airings at various times during the day, and in a variety of markets, large and small.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of July 13:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,858,000 | 7,641,000 | 5,257,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,661,000 | 1,516,000 | 949,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 7/13/20), Previous Week (w/o 7/6/20) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 7/15/19). Most Current: 2019-2020 Season (9/23/19-7/19/20) and 2018-2019 Season (9/24/18-7/21/19). Nielsen ratings for ABC, NBC and CBS include additional airings in select markets. Averages based on regular telecasts. Broadcast and Cable ranker for w/o 7/13/20 based on Total Day.