According to live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir averaged 7.72 million total viewers and 1.38 million adults 25-54 for the week of June 6, making it once again the most-watched show (in total viewers) on U.S. TV, excluding sports and syndicated programming. Additionally, ABC’s evening newscast has now defeated its competition from NBC and CBS 184 of the past 185 weeks in average total viewers—and 113 of the last 115 weeks among adults 25-54.
How did the newscast perform against comparable weeks? World News Tonight gained +4% in total viewers and +3% in the adults 25-54 demo from the Memorial Day holiday-shortened week of May 30. WNT also gained +2% in total viewers but shed -2% among adults 25-54 from the same week in 2021 (June 7).
On Thursday, June 9, all three network evening newscasts were retitled due to the live coverage of the Jan. 6 Committee hearings concerning the attack on the U.S. Capitol. World News Tonight was also retitled to “WNT-ABC” on Wednesday and Friday due to Games 3 and 4 of the NBA Finals. These telecasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages. As a result, World News Tonight’s weekly averages are based on just two days (Monday, Tuesday).
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged 6.11 million total viewers on NBC this past week, making it the 3rd-most-watched program on all of TV (excluding sports and syndie programming). The 6.11 million total viewer average is up +1% from the previous week—and up less than +1% from the comparable week in 2021. NBC Nightly News also averaged 969,000 adults 25-54 this past week, which is -1% from the previous week and -11% from what the broadcast drew in the year-ago week.
Tom Llamas anchored Nightly News on Monday and Savannah Guthrie anchored the newscast on Tuesday.
Additionally, on YouTube, full episodes of NBC Nightly News reached an average of 624,000 video views and 500,000 viewers last week. That’s according to Adobe Analytics and Partner Portals; YouTube Analytics Portal.
The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 4.61 million total viewers and 768,000 adults 25-54 for the week of June 6. That’s up +7% when it comes to total viewers—and +9% in adults 25-54 from the previous week. Relative to the year-ago week, Evening News lost -4% in total viewers and -13% among adults 25-54.
NBC’s and CBS’ evening newscast averages are based on four days (Monday-Wednesday, Friday).
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of June 6, 2022:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,717,000 | 6,109,000 | 4,613,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,379,000 | 969,000 | 768,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 6/6/22), Previous Week (w/o 5/30/22) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 6/7/21). Most Current: 2021-2022 Season (9/20/21 – 6/12/22) and 2020-2021 Season (9/21/20 – 6/13/21). 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.