ABC World News Tonight with David Muir finished the week of June 29, which preceded the July 4 holiday, not only as the No. 1 evening newscast among both Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 for the 14th consecutive week, but also as the most-watched show on U.S. television for the fifth consecutive week. World News Tonight averaged 8.98 million Total Viewers and 1.66 million A25-54 viewers for the week.
Overall, World News Tonight is having its most-watched season in 17 years and strongest key Adults 25-54 performances in five years—since the 2003-04 and the 2015-16 seasons, respectively.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt finished in second place behind WNT in the key measurements; however, the broadcast averaged 7.74 million viewers, +3% from the previous week, to go with 1.57 million Adults 25-54, +2%.
According to live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen, Nightly was the fourth-most-watched program on U.S. television last week and remained No.3 among A25-54 viewers (excluding syndication).
First-run broadcasts of The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 5.4 million Total Viewers and 988,000 A25-54 viewers this past week. Including the 4 a.m. rerun, Evening News delivered nearly 6 million total and 1.16 million Adults 25-54.
For the week of June 29, CBS Evening News, the network’s No.1 show last week, was +1% in Total Viewers and +4% in the A25-54 demo from the previous week; +3% in Total Viewers and +4% in demo viewers versus the year-ago week (July 1, 2019).
NBC Nightly News was +3% in Total Viewers and +2% in the key A25-54 demo versus the previous week; +13% in Total Viewers and +8% in demo viewers versus the year-ago week.
ABC World News Tonight, despite remaining at the top of the evening news heap, didn’t post week-to-week growth across the board like its competition. WNT was +1% in Total Viewers, but was -4% in the A25-54 demo. That said, the newscast was very strong versus the year-ago week: +15% in Total Viewers and +26% in the 25-54 demo.
There is a caveat when it comes to the week of June 29 evening news ratings. They’re based on a four-day average (Mon.-Thurs., retitled Friday) due to the holiday weekend. This is different than the comparable week last year (July 1, 2019), when ABC and NBC ratings were based on only three days, and CBS went with only two days.
*Nielsen ratings for ABC, NBC and CBS include additional airings at various times during the day, and in a variety of markets, large and small.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of June 29:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,978,000 | 7,742,000 | 5,398,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,664,000 | 1,572,000 | 988,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 6/29/20), Previous Week (w/o 6/22/20) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 7/8/19). Most Current: 2019-2020 Season (9/23/19-7/5/20) and 2018-2019 Season (9/24/18-7/7/19). Nielsen ratings for ABC, NBC and CBS include additional airings in select markets. Averages based on regular telecasts. Broadcast and Cable ranker for w/o 6/29/20 based on Total Day.