NBC News and CBS News’ evening newscasts saw week-to-week audience gains in total viewers this past week. ABC News’ evening newscast, on the other hand, shed viewers.
Despite a subpar performance from comparable weeks, World News Tonight with David Muir remained No. 1 in the evening news ratings race and the No. 1 show on all of broadcast and cable TV for the week of October 30, 2023.
Per live plus same day data from Nielsen, ABC’s evening news offering averaged more than 7.57 million total viewers and 1.06 million A25-54 viewers for the Tuesday through Friday portion of the week of Oct. 30. That’s a -2% loss in total viewers and a -2% in A25-54 viewers from the previous week (which was also rated on just four days). When compared with the same week in 2022 (when WNT rated on all five days), World News Tonight is -3% in total viewers and a whopping -18% in A25-54 viewers, as ABC’s evening newscast continues its trend of losing viewers under 55 on an annual basis.
The Monday, Oct. 30 broadcast of World News Tonight was not Nielsen-rated/excluded due to Monday Night Football preempting the evening newscast on ABC stations in several markets west of the Mississippi. The Monday retitling of ABC World News Tonight has been a consistent practice since the start of the Monday Night Football season, and likely hurts World News Tonight’s weekly ratings averages, as Monday has historically been the most-watched day of the week for network newscasts.
Still, the trend isn’t great.
Despite a second-place finish, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt continues to give World News Tonight a run for its money, gaining total viewers but shedding A25-54 viewers from the previous week. NBC Nightly News drew an average of 1.02 million A25-54 viewers this past week. That’s -3% from what the newscast averaged the week earlier and -9% from the year-ago week. However, in total viewers, NBC Nightly News was the second-most-watched show across all of broadcast and cable TV (excluding sports) for the week, averaging 6.77 million viewers — the show’s largest average audience since March. The 6.77 million also represents a +3% gain from the previous week, and a +3% gain from the year-ago week for Nightly News.
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 1.1 million total views and 810,000 viewers last week.
Additionally, Nightly News beat World News Tonight on at least one day of the week for the fourth consecutive week (it averaged +44,000 more A25-54 viewers than WNT on Friday, Nov. 3). The last time we saw this trend was December 2019.
Changing channels, The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell trended in a positive direction on a week-to-week-basis. Its 4.89 million total and 742,000 Adults 25-54 viewer average for the week of Oct. 23 is +4% and +6%, respectively, from the week before. CBS Evening News saw a gain in total viewers from the year-ago week (+2%), but a drop-off in A25-54 viewers also from the year-ago week (-6%).
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of Oct. 30, 2023:
| ABC (4 days) | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,573,000 | 6,766,000 | 4,890,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,057,000 | 1,021,000 | 742,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 10/30/23), Previous Week (w/o 10/23/23) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 10/24/22). Most Current Data Stream: 2022-2023 Season (9/25 – 11/5/22) and 2022-2023 Season (9/19 – 10/30/22). 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.