ABC World News Tonight with David Muir handily earned the title of America’s most-watched program across all broadcast and cable channels heading into the Memorial Day weekend. It was the only evening newscast to see week-to-week gains in both total viewers and the advertiser-coveted demo of Adults 25-54 for the week of May 20.
At the same time, all three newscasts did enjoy week-to-week demo growth and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt and CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell actually registered larger increases in that category than World News Tonight.
NOTE: Due to the holiday weekend, the Friday editions of each newscast were retitled and are excluded from the weekly and season averages, which are based on four days (Monday through Thursday). WNT was retitled to “WNT-ABC,” “CBS Evening News” was retitled to “CBS Evening Nws,” and “NBC Nightly News” was retitled to “NBC Nitely News.”
World News Tonight averaged 7.236 million total viewers for the week of May 20, an uptick of +1% from the week before. It also rose by +1% in the A25-54 demo, inching closer to the million viewers mark with 996,000 viewers. Comparing its performance to the same week in 2023 (the week beginning May 22), WNT was down in total viewers by -2% and down by -13% in the demo.
WNT continues to lead its timeslot competitors in both measured categories, extending its reign to 286 out of 287 weeks in total viewers and 214 out of the last 217 weeks in the demo.
Nightly News earned second place in total viewers and the demo this past week, averaging 5.723 million viewers and 807,000 viewers, respectively. It was down -1% in total viewers but rose by +3% in the A25-54 demo compared to the previous week. Looking at the year-to-year trend, Nightly News was down by in total viewers and the demo by -3% and -6%, respectively.
CBS Evening News finished third with 4.235 million total viewers and 632,000 A25-54 viewers. Like Nightly News, that’s a dip of -1% in the former category and a bump of +3% in the latter. Compared to its year-ago numbers, the newscast was down -3% in total viewers and -4% in the demo.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of May 20, 2024:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,236,000 | 5,723,000 | 4,235,000 |
| • A25-54: | 996,000 | 807,000 | 632,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 5/20/24), Previous Week (w/o 5/13/24) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 5/16/23). Most Current Data Stream: 2023-2024 Season (9/25/23 – 5/26/24) and 2022-2023 Season (9/19/22 – 5/22/23). 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.