ABC World News Tonight with David Muir is the top-rated national evening newscast yet again.
ABC News’ evening juggernaut averaged 7.38 million total viewers and 1.095 million A25-54 viewers this past week. That’s according to live plus same day data from Nielsen for the week beginning June 5, 2023.
WNT marked its 11th consecutive week as the most-watched regularly-scheduled show across broadcast and cable, and has now defeated its evening news competition from NBC and CBS 236 of the past 237 weeks in average total viewers—and 165 of the last 167 weeks among Adults 25-54.
World News Tonight dropped -1% in total viewers and -4% in A25-54 viewers compared to the week before (the Memorial Day holiday-shortened week of May 29). ABC’s evening newscast again dropped -4% in total viewers and a whopping -21% in A25-54 viewers versus the same week in 2022. as Americans under 55 increasingly leave linear TV news.
On Wednesday (June 7) and Friday (June 9), World News Tonight was retitled to “WNT-ABC” due to Game 3 and Game 4, respectively, of the 2023 NBA Finals. ABC’s weekly average is based on just three days (Monday, Tuesday and Thursday).
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged 6.09 million total viewers (No. 3 among all regularly-scheduled broadcast and cable TV programming) with 943,000 Adults 25-54 (a six-week high) for the week of June 5.
On Thursday (June 8), NBC Nightly News was retitled to “NBC Nitely News” due to live coverage of the Donald Trump indictment announcement. The retitled telecast is excluded from the weekly and season averages. NBC’s weekly averages are based on four days (Monday-Wednesday and Friday).
NBC’s evening newscast gained +1% in total viewers and a solid +13% in A25-54 viewers from the week prior, perhaps benefiting from World News Tonight being preempted by ABC’s NBA Finals coverage in many markets. Additionally, NBC Nightly News shed less than -1% in total viewers and only -3% 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 831,000 total viewers last week.
The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 4.36 million total viewers and 642,000 Adults 25-54 for the week of June 5, -3% and -4%, respectively, from what the newscast drew in those measurements the prior week. The CBS Evening News is -6% in total viewers and -16% in A25-54 viewers from the year-ago week.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of June 5, 2023:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,377,000 | 6,090,000 | 4,356,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,095,000 | 943,000 | 642,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 6/5/23), Previous Week (w/o 5/29/23) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 6/6/22). Most Current Data Stream: Season 2022-2023 (9/19/22-6/11/23) and Season 2021-2022 (9/20/21-6/12/2023). 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.