"World News Tonight with David Muir" Wins Second Consecutive Week in Total Viewers

ByABC News
June 1, 2016, 1:15 PM

— -- For the Week of May 23, 2016:

‘WORLD NEWS TONIGHT WITH DAVID MUIR’ IS THE #1 NEWSCAST IN AMERICA WINNING TOTAL VIEWERS FOR THE SECOND CONSECUTIVE WEEK

‘World News Tonight’ More Than Doubles Its Total Viewer Lead (+101%) Over NBC’s ‘Nightly News’ from Previous Week

‘World News Tonight’ Is the Only Newscast to Improve Week-to-Week in Total Viewers; NBC and CBS Are Down

‘World News Tonight’ Grows the Most in Total Viewers Year-to-Year

Season to Date ‘World News Tonight’ Is Delivering Its Largest Overall Viewership in 9 Years

‘World News Tonight’ Is Narrowing the Total Viewer Season Margin with NBC by -37% for Tightest Race in 8 Years

For the May 2016 Sweep:

‘World News Tonight’ Scores Most-Watched May in 5 Years

‘World News Tonight’ Narrows Margins by Double Digits with NBC from Previous Sweep in Adults 18-49 (-27%) and Total Viewers (-16%)

ABC News’ “World News Tonight with David Muir” won in Total Viewers (7.950 million) for the 2nd week in a row during the week of May 23, 2016, based on Live +Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research. “World News Tonight” more than doubled its lead over “NBC Nightly News” (7.753 million) from the previous week (+101% - 197,000 vs. 98,000 for w/o 5/16/16) to its largest in nearly 5 months – since w/o 12/28/15.

“World News Tonight” outdelivered “NBC Nightly News” in 4 of 5 head-to-head telecasts during the week for the 2nd week running: Monday (+120,000), Tuesday (+394,000), Thursday (+369,000) and Friday (+347,000).

For the 2nd time in the last 3 weeks, “World News Tonight’s” Monday airing (8.498 million) stood as the most-watched telecast of the week, outdrawing every telecast of “CBS Evening News” and “NBC Nightly News.”

“World News Tonight” built on the same week last year in Total Viewers (+4% – 7.950 million vs. 7.650 million for w/o 5/25/15), improving year-to-year for the 5th consecutive week. In addition, the ABC newscast grew the most from the year-ago week compared to “CBS Evening News” (flat) and “NBC Nightly News” (+1%).

“World News Tonight” was up over the previous week in Total Viewers (7.950 million vs. 7.928 million for w/o 5/16/16) to draw its largest overall audience in 4 weeks – since w/o 4/25/16. In addition, “World News Tonight” stood as the only newscast to grow week to week as “CBS Evening News” (-5%) and “NBC Nightly News” (-1%).

Season to date, “World News Tonight” is improving versus the same point last season in Total Viewers (+24,000 - 8.580 million vs. 8.556 million). Growing for the 4th straight year, “World News Tonight” is delivering its largest overall viewer audience in 9 years – since the 2006-07 season.

“World News Tonight” is also narrowing its Total Viewer season margin with “NBC Nightly News” by double digits (-37% - 241,000 vs. 380,000) for the 2nd straight season, posting its closest overall viewer performance with the NBC program in 8 years – since the 2007-08 season.

For the week, “World News Tonight” outperformed the “CBS Evening News” by 1.554 million Total Viewers, by 210,000 Adults 25-54 and by 205,000 Adults 18-49.

May 2016 Sweep

“World News Tonight with David Muir” averaged 7.930 million Total Viewers, 1.697 million Adults 25-54 and 1.220 million Adults 18-49 during the 2016 May sweep, based on Most Current Data from Nielsen Media Research.

For the 4th year in a row, “World News Tonight” built on the year-ago May sweep in Total Viewers (+3% - 7.930 million vs. 7.692 million for May 2015) to post its most-watched May in 5 years – since May 2011.

“World News Tonight” narrowed margins with “NBC Nightly News” from the previous sweep (February 2016) in Total Viewers (-16% - 41,000 vs. 49,000) and Adults 18-49 (-27% - 97,000 vs. 132,000).

“World News” led CBS’ “Evening News” by 1.232 million Total Viewers, by 186,000 Adults 25-54 and by 186,000 Adults 18-49 during the May 2016 sweep.

ABC “World News Tonight with David Muir” airs 6:30–7:00 p.m. EST on the ABC Television Network. Almin Karamehmedovic is the executive producer of the broadcast.