New week, similar trend: ABC World News Tonight with David Muir is the No. 1-rated evening newscast on television.
World News Tonight averaged 7.33 million total viewers and 1.07 million A25-54 viewers during the week of July 31, as per Nielsen live plus same day data. WNT’s 7.33 million average represents a -3% decline from the previous week (July 24), while its 1.07 million average in the demo is up +0.5% from the previous week.
Relative to the same week in 2022, the Muir-helmed newscast is down -1% in total viewers but a whopping -16% in A25-54 viewers, as linear news continues to lose Americans under 55 years of age on an annual basis.
Despite the mixed trend, with this past week’s performance, ABC’s evening newscast has now defeated its competition from NBC and CBS 244 of the past 245 weeks in average total viewers—and 173 of the last 175 weeks among Adults 25-54. The week of July 31 also marked World News Tonight’s seventh consecutive week as the most watched regularly-scheduled program across U.S. broadcast and cable TV.
Elsewhere on broadcast news, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged more than 5.92 million total viewers and 933,000 Adults 25-54 for the week of July 31. That represents a -0.5% drop off in total viewers and a -1% in A25-54 viewers from the week before.
NBC Nightly News shed -2% in total viewers but actually gained +1% in A25-54 viewers from the comparable week in 2022. It was the second-most-watched regularly-scheduled program across U.S. broadcast and cable TV this past week.
On Friday, August 4, Nightly News outperformed WNT by +8,000 A25-54 viewers, marking its first single-day demo win vs. ABC since February 24, 2023.
Additionally, according to Adobe Analytics and Partner Portals; YouTube Analytics Portal, full episodes of NBC Nightly News on YouTube reached an average of 924,700 views and 711,000 viewers last week.
The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged just 4.23 million total viewers and 589,000 Adults 25-54 for the week of July 31. That’s -1% in total viewers and -1% in A25-54 viewers from the previous week, -6% in average total viewers and a whopping -22% in A25-54 viewers from the year-ago week.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of July 31, 2023:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,328,000 | 5,924,000 | 4,229,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,069,000 | 933,000 | 589,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 7/31/23), Previous Week (w/o 7/24/23) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 8/1/22). Most Current Data Stream: Season 2022-2023 (9/19/22-7/30/23) and Season 2021-2022 (9/20/21-7/31/2023). 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.