Week of Oct. 4 Evening News Ratings: ABC Remains No. 1 Despite Declines; NBC, CBS Gain Viewers From Prior Week

By A.J. Katz 

Live-plus-same-day Nielsen data for the week of Oct. 4, 2021 is in, and ABC World News Tonight with David Muir finished as the No. 1 newscast for the week, not just in average total viewers (7.82 million) but also among adults 25-54 (1.39 million) for the third week of the 2021-’22 TV season.

World News Tonight has won the last 150 weeks in average total viewers, and 78 of the last 80 weeks among adults 25-54. That said, the newscast shed -2% in average total viewers and -2% among adults 25-54 viewers from the previous week, while its main competitors from NBC and CBS saw week-to-week growth.

Compared to the same week in 2020, World News Tonight fell by -11% in average total audience and -20% among adults 25-54. It’s worth noting that World News Tonight was only rated on one day that week (Thursday) due to ABC’s coverage of the 2020 NBA Finals and various politics-themed special reports.

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Second-place NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged 6.625 million total viewers, and 1.2 million adults 25-54 this past week. The broadcast managed to beat both ABC and CBS in the key demo on Monday. In addition to winning Monday in the demo, Nightly grew in average total viewers (+3%), and among adults (+4%) from the previous week. However, the newscast was down compared with the same week in 2020 by -10% in average total viewers and -13% among adults 25-54.

Additionally, on YouTube, weekday episodes of Nightly News reached 642,000 views and 527,000 viewers, with the average viewer watching for more than 12 minutes.

CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 4.83 million total viewers, which is +1% from previous week. The newscast also saw growth in adults 25-54 from the prior week (+6%, 854,000 vs. 809,000). However, like ABC and NBC, CBS saw year-over-year audience losses, dropping -8% in total viewers and -12% among adults 25-54.

Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of Oct. 4:

ABC NBC CBS
• Total Viewers: 7,823,000 6,625,000 4,830,000
• A25-54: 1,386,000 1,195,000 854,000

 

 

 

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54. Live + SD Current Week (w/o 10/4/21), Previous Week (w/o 9/27/21) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 10/5/20). Most Current: 2021 -2022 Season (9/20 – 10/10/21 and 2020 -2021 Season (9/21 – 10/11/20). 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.

 

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