ABC World News Tonight with David Muir averaged 7.52 million total viewers and 1.25 million adults 25-54 for the week of May 9. This is according to live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen.
With its performance this past week, ABC’s evening newscast has now defeated its competition from NBC and CBS 180 of the past 181 weeks in average total viewers—and 109 of the last 111 weeks among adults 25-54.
While these may seem like big numbers, they’re actually not great by World News Tonight standards. The broadcast shed -4% in total viewers—and -7% in the adults 25-54 demo from the previous week (May 2). Additionally, WNT shed -4% in total viewers and a whopping -17% in A25-54 viewers from the same week in 2021 (May 10).
Despite this decline, for the fifth consecutive week, World News Tonight was the most-watched show (in total viewers) on U.S. TV, excluding sports and syndicated programming.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged 6.19 million total viewers on NBC this past week, making it the the 9th-most-watched program on all of TV (excluding sports/specials and syndie). The 6.19 million is -4% from the previous week and -5% from the comparable week in 2021. NBC Nightly News also averaged 1.01 million adults 25-54 this past week, which is -6% from the previous week and -17% from what the broadcast pulled in during the year-ago week.
Additionally, on YouTube, full episodes of NBC Nightly News reached an average of 748,000 video views and 595,000 video viewers last week. That’s according to Adobe Analytics and Partner Portals; YouTube Analytics Portal.
The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 4.49 million total viewers and 727,000 adults 25-54 for the week of May 9. That’s -3% in total viewers, and -4% in adults 25-54 from the previous week. Relative to the year-ago week, Evening News is -5% in total viewers and -12% among adults 25-54. Not as dire of a trend as ABC and NBC, but still not spectacular.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of May 9, 2022:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,518,000 | 6,194,000 | 4,492,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,249,000 | 1,008,000 | 727,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 5/9/22), Previous Week (w/o 5/2/22) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 5/10/21). Most Current: 2021-2022 Season (9/20/21 – 5/15/22) and 2020-2021 Season (9/21/20 – 5/16/21). 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.