ABC World News Tonight with David Muir remained No. 1 among all evening newscasts across the board, averaging more than 7.08 million total viewers and 1.05 million A25-54 viewers during the week of July 3, as per live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen.
ABC’s evening newscast has now defeated its competition from NBC and CBS 240 of the past 241 weeks in average total viewers—and 169 of the last 171 weeks among Adults 25-54. It also marked its third consecutive week as the most watched regularly-scheduled show across U.S. broadcast and cable.
During what was an Independence Day holiday-shortened week, World News Tonight shed -9% in total viewers and -10% in A25-54 viewers from the previous week, steeper week-to-week declines than what its competitors experienced. Compared with Independence Day week in 2022, the Muir-fronted newscast managed to gain +1% in total viewers but lost -7% in A25-54 viewers, as linear news continues to lose Americans under 55.
Additionally, on Monday, July 3, and Tuesday, July 4, World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News and CBS Evening News were coded as specials due to the holiday. The specialed telecasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages, and as a result, ABC’s, CBS’ and NBC’s weekly averages are based on three days (Wednesday-Friday).
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged 5.81 million total viewers and 870,000 Adults 25-54 for the week of July 3. The represents a loss of -5% in total viewers and -6% in A25-54 viewers from the week before. The program also shed -7% in total viewers and -9% in A25-54 viewers from the same week last year.
Despite these losses, NBC Nightly News was still the third most-watched regularly-scheduled program across U.S. broadcast and cable TV.
Additionally, according to Adobe Analytics and Partner Portals; YouTube Analytics Portal, full episodes of NBC Nightly News on YouTube reached an average of 1.2 million views and 856,000 viewers last week.
The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged more than 4.17 million total viewers and 656,000 Adults 25-54 for the week of July 3. That’s -8% in total viewers and -4% among A25-54 viewers from the previous week. Additionally, CBS Evening News is -7% in average total viewers and -10% in A25-54 viewers from the year-ago week.
Muir and O’Donnell were both off last week.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of July 3, 2023:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,082,000 | 5,814,000 | 4,174,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,047,000 | 870,000 | 656,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 7/3/23), Previous Week (w/o 6/26/23) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 7/4/22). Most Current Data Stream: Season 2022-2023 (9/19/22-7/9/23) and Season 2021-2022 (9/20/21-7/10/2023). 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.