ABC News’ World News Tonight with David Muir continued its reign as the most-watched program on all of U.S. TV for the week of March 18, 2024. It was also the most-watched newscast in the key demo of Adults 25-54, which advertisers favor. This achievement has now stretched to the last 277 of 278 weeks in Total Viewers and 205 of the last 208 in Adults 25-54 for WNT.
Unfortunately, WNT was the only evening newscast to register a week-to-week decline in either of the measured categories, as it lost viewers in the A25-54 demo. Elsewhere, CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell received a healthy bounce back in the demo compared to the previous week of March 11.
ABC World News Tonight averaged 7.532 million total viewers for the week of March 18. This was a +2% gain from the previous week. The evening newscast averaged 1 million viewers from the key A25-54 demo, dropping by -3% from the week before. Looking at the evening news show’s performance to the same week in 2023 (the week beginning March 20), WNT was down in total viewers by -7% and fell by -20% in the A25-54 demo.
Meanwhile, Nightly News with Lester Holt was the No. 2 newscast in total viewers and the demo this past week, averaging 6.169 million viewers and 807,000 viewers in A25-54. It rose by +4% in total viewers and +1% in the A25-54 demo compared to the previous week. When looking at its performance in the same week a year ago, Nightly News saw a decline in both total viewers and A25-54, dropping by -9 % and -23%, respectively.
Finally, the CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 4.687 million total viewers for the week of March 18. It rose by +6% from the previous week and dropped by -7% from the year-ago week. The newscast averaged 709,000 viewers in the demo, up a strong +10% from the previous week as the only newscast to record double-digit growth. It had a drop of -6% when looking at the year-ago week numbers.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of March 18, 2024:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,532,000 | 6,169,000 | 4,687,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,000,000 | 807,000 | 709,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 3/18/24), Previous Week (w/o 3/11/24) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 3/13/23). Most Current Data Stream: 2023-2024 Season (9/25/23 – 3/24/24) and 2022-2023 Season (9/19/22 – 3/19/23). 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.