A week filled with Super Tuesday and State of the Union coverage saw ABC World News Tonight with David Muir remain as the No. 1 evening newscast in all of broadcast and cable in total viewers and the advertiser-coveted demo of Adults 25-54 for the week of March 4, 2024.
Muir was busy during that week, leading ABC News’ coverage of Super Tuesday, which ranked No.1 amongst the broadcast networks, and Thursday’s State of the Union. ABC World News Tonight averaged 7.787 million total viewers for the week of March 4. This was a -1% slide from the previous week (the week beginning on Feb. 26). The evening newscast averaged 1.101 million viewers from the key A25-54 demo, also sliding -1% from the week before. Looking at the evening news show’s performance to the same week in 2023 (the week beginning March 6), WNT was down in total viewers by -7% and fell by -15% in the A25-54 demo.
The good news for WNT is that it widened the gap in total viewers between itself and NBCU’s Nightly News with Lester Holt.
Nightly News remained in second place in total viewers this past week, averaging 6.376 million viewers and 918,000 in A25-54. It declined by -3% in total viewers but gained by +1% in the A25-54 demo compared to the previous week. Additionally, Nightly News was the only broadcast to experience week-to-week gains in either of the measured categories for the week of March 4. 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 -10 % and -16%, respectively.
Lastly, the CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 4.527 million total viewers as the No. 3 newscast for the week of March 4. It was down by -4% from the previous week and dropped by -9% from the year-ago week. The newscast averaged 645,000 viewers in the demo, declining by -7% when compared to the previous week and saw a drop of -10% when looking at the year-ago week numbers.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of March 4, 2024:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,787,000 | 6,376,000 | 4,527,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,101,000 | 918,000 | 645,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 3/4/24), Previous Week (w/o 2/26/24) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 2/27/23). Most Current Data Stream: 2023-2024 Season (9/25/23 – 3/10/24) and 2022-2023 Season (9/19/22 – 3/5/23). 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.