ABC World News Tonight with David Muir shed viewers from the previous week, but maintained its No. 1 ranking in the evening news ratings race.
Per live plus same day data from Nielsen, World News Tonight averaged 7.91 million total viewers and 1.09 million A25-54 viewers for the week of Nov. 13. World News Tonight’s 7.91 million viewer average is -5% from the previous week (which was rated on just three days); a steeper week-to-week loss than what its competitors saw, but still the largest average audience of any U.S. broadcast and cable TV show. Additionally, World News Tonight’s 1.09 million A25-54 average is -6% from the week prior. When compared with the year-ago week, ABC’s evening newscast is -11% in total viewers and a whopping -28% in A25-54 viewers, as the program continues its troubling trend of losing viewers under 55 on an annual basis.
A positive for World News Tonight (in addition to the first place finish): On Tuesday, Nov, 14, the newscast turned in its most-watched telecast (8.52 million) since March 28, 2023.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, on the other hand, continues to gain ground on its ABC rival. That said, it did lose viewers this week from comparable weeks. NBC’s evening news offering drew an average of more than 1.02 million A25-54 viewers this past week, which is -5% from what it averaged the week earlier, and -17% from the year-ago week. In average total viewers, NBC Nightly News was the third-most-watched show across all of broadcast and cable TV (excluding sports) for the week, averaging 6.81 million viewers. That represents only a -1% drop-off from the previous week, and a -6% from the year-ago week.
According to data from Adobe Analytics and Partner Portals—and the YouTube Analytics Portal, full weekday episodes of NBC Nightly News earned an average of 811,000 total views and 630,000 viewers this past week.
Additionally, Nightly News beat World News Tonight on one day of the week for the sixth consecutive week (Nightly News averaged +59,000 more A25-54 viewers than WNT on Monday, Nov. 13). The last time we saw this trend was December 2019.
Changing channels, The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged more than 4.8 million total but just 669,000 Adults 25-54 for the week of Nov. 13. That’s -3% and -1%, respectively, from the week before. However, CBS Evening News saw a -10% decline in total viewers and a -20% decline in A25-54 viewers from the year-ago week.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of Nov. 13, 2023:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,910,000 | 6,806,000 | 4,802,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,090,000 | 1,022,000 | 669,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 11/13/23), Previous Week (w/o 11/6/23) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 11/7/22). Most Current Data Stream: 2022-2023 Season (9/25 – 11/19/22) and 2022-2023 Season (9/19 – 11/13/22). 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.