ABC World News Tonight with David Muir remained No. 1 among all evening newscasts across the board, averaging 7.745 million total viewers and 1.16 million A25-54 viewers, as per live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen.
That represents a two-month viewership high for the newscast, both in total viewers and among A25-54. Additionally, World News Tonight delivered its largest total viewers advantage over its NBC competition in seven months ― since the week of November 14, 2022.
ABC’s evening newscast has now defeated its competition from NBC and CBS 239 of the past 240 weeks in average total viewers—and 168 of the last 170 weeks among Adults 25-54.
With Muir back in the anchor’s seat (he was off the week prior), World News Tonight gained back +5% in total viewers and +6% in A25-54 viewers. Compared with the same week in 2022 (June 27), the Muir-led newscast gained +6% in total viewers but lost -6% in A25-54, as linear news continues to shed Americans under 55.
It’s worth noting that on Friday, June 30, World News Tonight was retitled to “WNT-ABC,” the CBS Evening News was retitled to “CBS Evening Nws,” and NBC Nightly News was retitled to “NBC Nitely News” due to the 4th of July weekend. The retitled telecasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages. ABC’s, CBS’ and NBC’s weekly averages are based on four days (Monday-Thursday).
After a very strong ratings week of June 19, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt took a bit of a tumble this past week, averaging 6.13 million total viewers and 927,000 Adults 25-54 for the week of June 26. The represents a loss of -1% in total viewers and -6% in A25-54 viewers from the week before. The program also shed -1% in total viewers and -12% in A25-54 viewers from the year-ago week.
Despite these losses, NBC Nightly News was still the second 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 946,000 views and 737,000 viewers last week.
The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged more than 4.51 million total viewers and 680,000 Adults 25-54 for the week of June 26. That’s +1 in total viewers, but -1% among A25-54 viewers from the previous week. Additionally, CBS Evening News gained +3% in average total viewers but shed -7% in A25-54 viewers from the year-ago week.
Like Muir, O’Donnell was back in the anchor seat after having taken the week of June 19 off.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of June 26, 2023:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,745,000 | 6,126,000 | 4,513,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,162,000 | 927,000 | 680,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54, and Adults 18-49 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 6/26/23), Previous Week (w/o 6/92/23) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 6/27/22). Most Current Data Stream: Season 2022-2023 (9/19/22-7/2/23) and Season 2021-2022 (9/20/21-7/3/2023). 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.