While the network morning shows didn’t experience much of a Trump Bump, former President Donald Trump‘s historic guilty verdict in his hush money trial did improve the fortunes of some of their evening counterparts.
ABC World News Tonight with David Muir and CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell both saw week-to-week gains in the advertiser-coveted Adults 25-54 demo. Unfortunately, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt didn’t reap the same benefits as it became the only newscast to experience drops in both total viewers and the demo.
NOTE: Due to the Memorial Day Holiday, the Monday editions of the evening newscasts were coded as specials. These retitled telecasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages, with the weekly averages being based on four days (Tuesday to Friday).
World News Tonight averaged 7.249 million total viewers for the week of May 27—a flat result compared to the prior week. But WNT did cross the million-viewer mark in the demo, bringing in 1.027 million A25-54 viewers for a +3% week-to-week bounce. Evaluating its performance compared to the same week in 2023 (the week beginning May 29), WNT saw respective declines of -2% and -10% in both measured categories.
When the Trump verdict was announced on Thursday afternoon, WNT attracted nearly two million more viewers than Nightly News—7.557 million vs. 5.619 million. Additionally, it continued to lead its competitors in total viewers and the demo throughout the week, extending its reign to 287 out of 288 weeks in the former category and 215 of the last 218 weeks in the latter.
Nightly News finished second in total viewers and the demo this past week, averaging 5.605 million viewers and 799,000 A5-54 viewers, respectively. That’s a decline of -2% in total viewers and -1% in the demo. Looking at its year-to-year performance, Nightly News was down by a respective -7% and -5% in both measured categories.
CBS Evening News was the No. 3 newscast with 4.236 million total viewers and 642,000 viewers in the A25-54 demo. Compared to the previous week, it was flat in total viewers and up +2% in the demo. Year-to-year, the show saw declines of -6% and -4%, respectively.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of May 27, 2024:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 7,249,000 | 5,605,000 | 4,236,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,027,000 | 799,000 | 642,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 5/27/24), Previous Week (w/o 5/20/24) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 5/23/23). Most Current Data Stream: 2023-2024 Season (9/25/23 – 6/2/24) and 2022-2023 Season (9/19/22 – 5/29/23). 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.