Positive news for the evening news: Week-to-week audience growth.
ABC World News Tonight with David Muir remained No. 1 among all evening newscasts across the board this past week, averaging more than 7.46 million total viewers and more than 1. million A25-54 viewers during the week of July 17, as per live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen. That’s +1% in total viewers and a solid +9% gain in A25-54 viewers from the previous week. Versus the year-ago week, the Muir-fronted newscast improved by +2% in total viewers but shed -3% in A25-54 viewers, as linear news continues to lose Americans under 55 on an annual basis.
With this performance, ABC’s evening newscast has now defeated its competition from NBC and CBS 242 of the past 243 weeks in average total viewers—and 171 of the last 173 weeks among Adults 25-54. The week of July 17 also marked World News Tonight’s largest total viewer lead over NBC in eight months, and the fifth consecutive week that the newscast has ranked as the most watched regularly-scheduled program across U.S. broadcast and cable TV.
Elsewhere on broadcast, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged 5.81 million total viewers and 890,000 Adults 25-54 for the week of July 17. The represents a +0.5% gain in total viewers and +5% in A25-54 viewers from the week before. However, the program dropped -5% in total viewers and -2% in A25-54 viewers from the comparable week in 2022.
According to Adobe Analytics and Partner Portals; YouTube Analytics Portal, full episodes of NBC Nightly News on YouTube reached an average of one million views and 781,000 viewers last week.
NBC Nightly News was still the second-most-watched regularly-scheduled program across U.S. broadcast and cable TV this past week.
The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell remains in third place, averaging 4.42 million total viewers and 646,000 Adults 25-54 for the week of July 17. That’s +3% growth in total viewers and +1% in A25-54 viewers from the previous week. However, CBS Evening News is -4% in average total viewers and plummeted by -14% in A25-54 viewers from the year-ago week.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of July 17, 2023:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,459,000 | 5,810,000 | 4,420,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,142,000 | 890,000 | 646,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 7/17/23), Previous Week (w/o 7/3/23) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 7/11/22). Most Current Data Stream: Season 2022-2023 (9/19/22-7/16/23) and Season 2021-2022 (9/20/21-7/17/2023). Live. 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.