"World News Tonight" Ranks #1 in Total Viewers for the Week with David Muir Anchoring from Charleston on Church Shooting and Iowa for Jeb Bush Interview
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ABC News’ “World News Tonight with David Muir” ranked as the No. 1 evening newscast in all key target demos: Total Viewers (7.919 million), Adults 25-54 (1.954 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.366 million) for the 2nd time in the last 3 weeks for the week of June 15, 2015, based on Live +Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research. “World News Tonight” outperformed NBC’s “Nightly News” (7.542 million, 1.875 million and 1.339 million, respectively) by 377,000 Total Viewers, by 79,000 Adults 25-54 and by 27,000 Adults 18-49, delivering its largest Total Viewer margin in more than 7 1/2 years– since w/o 10/22/07.
During the week, David Muir anchored the broadcast from Iowa on Wednesday night for GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush’s first interview on the campaign trail. On Thursday, Muir anchored from Charleston, South Carolina to cover the breaking news on the deadly Emanuel AME Church shooting. With David Muir on the road on both nights, these were America’s most-watched newscasts. In addition, Chief Foreign Correspondent Terry Moran reported from Iraq on the front lines against ISIS for “World News Tonight” on Monday.
“World News Tonight” improved on the year-earlier week (6.877 million, 1.765 million and 1.267 million, respectively, on w/o 6/16/14) in all key target demos: Total Viewers (+15%), Adults 25-54 (+11%) and Adults 18-49 (+8%). In addition, the ABC evening news program was up the most in overall viewers and in the key adult news demo compared to “CBS Evening News” (+13%/+7%) and “NBC Nightly News” (-6%/+2%).
“World News Tonight” saw week-to-week gains (7.812 million and 1.324 million, respectively, for w/o 6/8/15) in Total Viewers (+1%) and Adults 18-49 (+3%).
Season to date, ABC News’ “World News Tonight” stands as the No. 1 evening newscast in Adults 25-54, leading “NBC Nightly News” by 6,000 news demo viewers (2.108 million vs. 2.102 million). This marks the first time in 19 years that “World News Tonight” ranks as the top evening newscast in Adults 25-54 at this point of the season – since the 1995-96 season.
“World News Tonight” is averaging 503,000 more viewers, season to date, compared to the same time frame last season (8.518 million vs. 8.015 million), while “NBC Nightly News” is posting a 314,000 average loss (8.853 million vs. 9.167 million). For the 2nd year in a row, “World News Tonight” is improving versus the same point last season in both Total Viewers (+6%) and Adults 25-54 (+1%). “World News Tonight” is averaging its largest overall viewer audience in 8 years and strongest in the key adult news demo in 4 years – since the 2006-07 and the 2010-11 seasons, respectively. In addition, “World News Tonight” is improving the most in Total Viewers and standing as the only evening newscast to grow in Adults 25-54 compared to “CBS Evening News” (+3%/-3%) and “NBC Nightly News” (-3%/-8%).
“World News Tonight” cut its season gaps with “NBC Nightly News” by more than half in Total Viewers (-71% - 335,000 vs. 1.152 million) and Adults 18-49 (-67% - 83,000 vs. 250,000) to its closest performance in 7 years in Total Viewers and in 8 years in Adults 18-49 – since the 2007-08 and the 2006-07 seasons, respectively.
For the week, “World News Tonight” led the “CBS Evening News” by 1.053 million Total Viewers, by 377,000 Adults 25-54 and by 250,000 Adults 18-49.
NOTE: Due to the NBA Finals Game 6 on Tuesday (6/16/15), “World News” was retitled “Wrld News Tonite” and the telecast was excluded from the averages. In addition, due to NHL Finals Game 6 on Monday (6/15/15), “Nightly News” was retitled “Nitely News” and is excluded from the averages. ABC’s (Mon, Wed-Fri) and NBC’s (Tue-Fri) averages are based on four days while CBS’ are based on five days.
ABC “World News Tonight with David Muir” airs at 6:30 p.m., ET on the ABC Television Network. Almin Karamehmedovic is the executive producer of the broadcast. Follow David Muir and the “World News Tonight” team online: @DavidMuir; @WNTonight; facebook.com/DavidMuirABC; facebook.com/WorldNewsTonight.
EVENING NEWS (Week of June 15, 2015)
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD weeks of 6/15/15, 6/8/15 and 6/16/14. Most Current: 2014-2015 Season (9/22/14 – 6/21/15) and 2013-2014 Season (9/23/13 – 6/22/14). Averages based on regular telecasts.
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