World News Tonight with David Muir delivered another win for ABC this past week.
The Nielsen ratings juggernaut averaged 7.57 million total viewers and 1.19 million A25-54 viewers during the week starting September 11, 2023. According to live plus same day data from Nielsen, World News Tonight’s 7.57 million average this past week is up +0.3% from what the newscast averaged the previous Nielsen week, which was Labor Day holiday-shortened. World News Tonight’s 1.19 million average in the A25-54 demo is the newscast’s largest delivery in the measurement since April, and up +1% relative to the previous week.
When compared against the same week in 2022, World News Tonight is a solid +4% in total viewers but -3% in A25-54 viewers, as ABC’s evening newscast continues its trend of losing viewers under 55 on an annual basis.
With this past week’s performance, World News Tonight has now defeated its competition from NBC and CBS 250 of the past 251 weeks in average total viewers—and 179 of the last 181 weeks among Adults 25-54.
It’s worth noting that on Monday, Sept. 11, World News Tonight was retitled to “WNT-ABC” due to Monday Night Football. The retitled telecast is excluded from the weekly and season averages. ABC’s weekly averages are based on four days (Tuesday-Friday). We should get used to this as fall continues in light of yesterday’s announcement that ESPN Monday Night Football will be airing on ABC in primetime for the remainder of the 2023 NFL regular season. Due to the ongoing WGA strike, there’s a lack of scripted entertainment programming on the docket for ABC (and other networks), and Disney felt putting Monday Night Football on the broadcast network would be a prudent way to fill at least one day of primetime. As a result, World News Tonight will be preempted in some markets on Mondays due to the addition of MNF on the network.
Elsewhere on broadcast news, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged 6.01 million total viewers and 1.03 million A25-54 viewers for the week of Sept. 11, -2% and -3%, respectively, from the week prior.
The fourth-most-watched show across broadcast and cable, NBC Nightly News shed total viewers but gained A25-54 viewers from the year-ago week, -2% and +2%, respectively. Neither ABC nor CBS were able to gain A25-54 viewers from the year-ago week.
Additionally, on YouTube, weekday episodes of NBC Nightly News reached 1.1 million views and nearly 858,000 viewers this past week.
Changing channels, The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 4.43 million total viewers and 674,000 Adults 25-54 for the week of Sept. 11. That’s down by only -0.1% in total viewers, but +2% in A25-54 viewers from the previous week. CBS Evening News gained +0.2% in total viewers but -3% in A25-54 viewers from the year-ago week.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of Sept. 11, 2023:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,570,000 | 6,007,000 | 4,429,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,187,000 | 1,030,000 | 674,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54. Live + SD Current Week (w/o 9/11/23), Previous Week (w/o 9/4/23) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 9/5/22). Most Current Data Stream: Season 2022-2023 (9/19/22-9/17/23) and Season 2021-2022 (9/20/21-9/18/2023). Live. 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.