ABC World News Tonight with David Muir is the top-rated national evening newscast yet again.
ABC News’ evening juggernaut averaged more than 7.46 million total viewers, the show’s largest average audience in six weeks, and 1.14 million A25-54 viewers this past week. That’s according to live plus same day data from Nielsen for the week beginning June 12, 2023.
WNT marked its 12th consecutive week as the most-watched regularly-scheduled show across U.S. broadcast and cable, and has now defeated its evening news competition from NBC and CBS 237 of the past 238 weeks in average total viewers—and 166 of the last 168 weeks among Adults 25-54.
World News Tonight gained +1% in total viewers and +4% in A25-54 viewers from the week before (the NBA Finals-shortened week of June 5). However, the newscast is -3% in total viewers and -12% in A25-54 viewers versus the same week in 2022, as Americans under 55 increasingly leave linear TV news.
Also worth pointing out that World News Tonight’s ratings for this past week are based on only four days (Monday, June 12 was retitled due to Game 5 of the 2023 NBA Finals), whereas the newscast’s year-ago week ratings are based on just two days — due to the 2022 NBA Finals and 2022 Stanley Cup Finals coverage.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged 6.20 million total viewers for the week of June 12, a seven-week total viewership high, +2% from the prior week and No. 2 among all regularly-scheduled broadcast and cable TV programming. The newscast also marked its most narrow total viewer gap with ABC in 10 weeks.
However, NBC Nightly News’ 914,000 Adults 25-54 viewer average is -3% in A25-54 viewers from the week prior. The newscast also shed -3% in total viewers and -11% among Adults 25-54 relative to the same week in 2022.
According to Adobe Analytics and Partner Portals; YouTube Analytics Portal, full weekday episodes of NBC Nightly News on YouTube reached an average of 1.1 million views and 824,000 total viewers last week.
Additionally, this past Thursday and Friday, NBC Nightly News linear broadcasts were preempted due to coverage of U.S. Open golf tournament, meaning the newscast’s weekly ratings averages are based on three days (Monday-Wednesday).
The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 4.55 million total viewers and 697,000 Adults 25-54 for the week of June 12. That’s +4% and +9%, respectively, from what the newscast drew in those measurements the prior week; more week-t0-week growth than the competition. However, the newscast dropped -3% in total viewers and -6% in A25-54 viewers from the year-ago week.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of June 12, 2023:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,462,000 | 6,202,000 | 4,549,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,139,000 | 914,000 | 697,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54, Live + SD Current Week (w/o 6/12/23), Previous Week (w/o 6/5/23) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 6/13/22). Most Current Data Stream: Season 2022-2023 (9/19/22-6/18/23) and Season 2021-2022 (9/20/21-6/19/2023). 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.