ABC World News Tonight with David Muir began the 2026-2027 broadcast season as the only telecast not to lose any viewers in total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo.
This was the 11th year that WNT started the new season as the most-watched broadcast. In addition, ABC News’ evening newscast had its most-watched week to start a new season in six years (since the 2020-2021 season). It also created additional depth in the demo battle with NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas, as 183,000 viewers separated the two programs for the week of September 21, 2026.
Note: ABC World Tonight and CBS Evening News’ weekly averages are based on four days (Monday-Thursday). Friday’s edition (08/25/26) of ABC and CBS News’ broadcasts were retitled to WNT-ABC and CBS Evening Nws, respectively. These broadcasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages.
According to national live+same-day big data plus program ratings from Nielsen, ABC World News Tonight averaged 8.388 million total viewers and 1.153 million Adults 25-54 demo viewers for the week of Sept. 21. The evening newscast was up +3% among total viewers and flat in A25-54 viewers compared to the previous week. Looking at its performance during the same week in 2025* (the week beginning Sept. 22), WNT was up +17% in total viewers and +35% in the demo.
NBC Nightly News finished in second place in total viewers and the demo, averaging 6.495 million and 970,000 viewers, respectively. Compared to the previous week, Nightly News slid by -1% in total viewers and -9% in the demo. When comparing its performance to the same week a year ago, Nightly News was up by +14% in total viewers and +20% in the demo.
CBS Evening News closed out the week of Sept. 21 with 3.98 million total viewers and 497,000 demo viewers. CBS News’ newscast was down by -1% in total viewers and -17% in the demo compared to the previous week. Its year-ago week numbers showed CBS Evening News up +7% in total viewers and +19% in the demo.
September 14, 2026 (Nielsen Big Data + Panel):
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
| • Total Viewers: | 8,388,000 | 6,495,000 | 3,980,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,153,000 | 970,000 | 497,000 |
Source: Nielsen Big Data + Panel, L+SD, Week of 9/21/2026. Average audience based on regularly titled telecasts only.
