New week, same trend: ABC News is No. 1 in the evenings.
According to live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir averaged 7.305 million total viewers and 1.22 million adults 25-54 for the week of Sept. 12, 2022. With that result, ABC’s evening newscast has now defeated its competition from NBC and CBS 198 of the past 199 weeks in average total viewers—and 127 of the last 129 weeks among adults 25-54.
However, those figures are down -1% in total viewers and -3% in A25-54 viewers from what the newscast averaged the prior week (Sept. 5). The year-over-year trend looks worse, not just for WNT but for all three evening newscasts. ABC shed -7% in total viewers and -16% among adults 25-54 from the year-ago week of Sept. 13, 2021.
Despite these losses, World News Tonight was still the second-most-watched non-sports program on all of U.S. TV this past week.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged 6.11 million total viewers this past week, making the fifth-most-watched show on U.S. TV, excluding sports, specials and syndication, of course. The newscast also averaged 1.01 million adults 25-54 on linear. All in all, the newscast saw a -2% drop-off in total viewers and a -10% loss in adults 25-54 from the prior week. Nightly News also saw a decline of -7% in total viewers and -16% among adults 25-54 from the year-ago week of Sept. 13, 2021.
On YouTube, full weekday episodes of NBC Nightly News earned an average of 557,000 views and roughly 500,000 viewers last week. That’s according to data from Adobe Analytics and Partner Portals—and the YouTube Analytics Portal.
CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 4.42 million total viewers but just 693,000 adults 25-54 this past week. That’s only -1% in total viewers and -3% in adults 25-54 from the prior week, but -9% in total viewers and a whopping -22% in adults 25-54 from the year-ago week.
Lastly, on Monday, Sept. 12, NBC Nightly News was retitled to “NBC Nitely News” due to NBC’s telecast of The Emmys. The telecast is excluded from the weekly and season averages. NBC’s averages are based on four days (Tuesday-Friday). ABC’s and CBS’ evening news averages are based on all five days of the week.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of Sept. 12:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,305,000 | 6,112,000 | 4,418,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,222,000 | 1,008,000 | 693,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 9/12/22), Previous Week (w/o 9/5/22) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 9/13/21). 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.