ABC World News Tonight With David Muir keeps winning the broadcast news ratings race, both in total viewers and among adults 25-54.
ABC’s flagship newscast averaged just under 9 million total viewers and 1.73 million adults 25-54 during the week of Sept. 14, 2020, a larger audience than its NBC and CBS competition for the 25th consecutive week.
On the final week of the 2019-2020 season, World News Tonight was flat in total viewership relative to the prior week (April 7 – Labor Day week), but -3% among adults 25-54. Relative to the year-ago week (Sept. 16, 2019), WNT was +10% in total viewers and +12% in adults 25-54.
ABC World News Tonight is having its most-watched season in 17 years and averaging its largest adults 25-54 audience in five years—since the 2003-04 and the 2015-16 seasons, respectively.
NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt gained ground on World News Tonight, averaging 7.57 million total viewers and 1.53 million adults 25-54 during the week of Sept. 14. NBC’s flagship newscast was up in total viewers from the prior week (+4%) and in adults 25-54 (+5%). Versus the year-ago week, Nightly was +3% in total viewers but lost adults 25-54 (-6%).
For the week of Sept.14, first-run broadcasts of the CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 5.6 million total viewers and 1 million A25-54 viewers.
Compared to the prior week, Evening News, which is the network’s most-watched show, performed quite well: +9% in total viewers and +10% in the key A25-54 demo. Compared to the year-ago week, Evening News was +12% in total viewers and +10% among adults 25-54.
Nielsen ratings for ABC, NBC and CBS include additional airings at various times during the day, and in a variety of markets, large and small. They reflect the addition of Out of Home (OOH) viewership that began being measured on Aug. 31 across only 44 markets tracked by Nielsen.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of Sept. 14:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,964,000 | 7,572,000 | 5,638,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,729,000 | 1,534,000 | 1,009,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 9/14/20), Previous Week (w/o 9/7/20) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 9/16/19). Most Current: 2019-2020 Season (9/23/19-9/21/20) and 2018-2019 Season (9/24/18-9/23/19). Most Current – 3Q20: 6/29 – 9/20/20. 2Q20: 3/30 – 6/28/20. 3Q19: 7/1 – 9/22/19. 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.