The evening newscasts for ABC, NBC and CBS all experienced declines from the same week in 2015 (the week of Oct. 26).
ABC World News Tonight with David Muir is the No. 1 evening news program in total audience for the final week of October 2016, per Nielsen data. This is the 5th weekly total audience win for ABC in the past 6 weeks, giving the program its largest total viewer advantage to start a season in 18 years. It is also drawing its largest total audience in 11 years. That said, World News was -7.5 percent in the key A25-54 demo compared to the same week in 2015 (w/o Oct. 26).
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt maintained a stranglehold on the top spot in the key A25-54 demo, the category that matters most to cable news advertisers. Despite a slight year-over-year drop (-1 percent), Nightly News more than tripled its demo lead over ABC versus that same week last season.
CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley was -6 percent in total audience, and -8 percent in the news demo compared to the week of Oct. 26, 2015.
Numbers for the week of Oct. 24, 2016:
| NBC | ABC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,147,000 | 8,188,000 | 6,790,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,955,000 | 1,791,000 | 1,588,000 |