During the November 2011 Sweep, “ABC World News with Diane Sawyer”  Substantially Narrowed the Viewership Gaps with “NBC Nightly News” Year-to-Year –  Slashing Total Viewer Gap by 28% and Demo Gap by 20%

For the Week of November 21, “World News” Cut the Total Viewing and Demo Gaps  with “NBC Nightly News” for the Fourth Straight Week

November 2011 Sweep For the November 2011 sweep, “ABC World News with Diane Sawyer” delivered 7.95 million Total Viewers and a 1.8 rating/6 share/2.11 million among Adults 25-54, according to Nielsen Media Research. ”World News” was up by+4% versus the November 2010 sweep in Total Viewers (7.95 million vs. 7.63 million).  Compared to the most recent sweeps period (July 2011 – 7.23 million and 1.92 million Adults 25-54), “World News” was up among Total Viewers (+10%) and Adults 25-54 (+10%).

Compared to the November 2010 sweep,  “ABC World News”  substantially cut its gaps with “NBC Nightly News” – narrowing its margins with the NBC newscast by double digits among both Total Viewers (-28% – 1.06 million vs. 1.47 million)  and Adults 25-54 (-20% – 409,000 vs. 512,000).

Compared to the July 2011 sweep, “ABC World News”  narrowed the gap with “NBC Nightly News” among Adults 25-54 by -10% (409,000 vs. 452,000) . The ABC newscast  shrank its news demo gap with NBC for the 2nd straight sweeps period to post its smallest margin in 5 sweeps periods - since July 2010.

“World News”  outpaced CBS’ “Evening News” by 1.53 million Total Viewers and by 252,000 Adults 25-54 viewers during the November 2011 sweep.

Week of November 21, 2011 For the week of November 21, 2011, “ABC World News with Diane Sawyer” averaged 8.26 million Total Viewers and a 1.8 rating/6 share/2.22 million among Adults 25-54, according to Nielsen Media Research. The ABC evening newscast delivered its 2nd-best numbers of the season in both measures. “World News” was  up on the year-ago Thanksgiving week in Total Viewers (8.20 million on w/o 11/22/10) to draw its  largest overall Thanksgiving-week audience in 3 years - since w/o 11/24/08.    

“ABC World News”  cut its year-ago gaps with “NBC Nightly News” among both Total Viewers (-21% – 1.67 million vs. 2.10 million)  and Adults 25-54 (-40% – 420,000 vs. 702,000)  for the 4th straight week.

“ABC World News”  outperformed the “CBS Evening News” by 1.19 million Total Viewers and by 137,000 Adults 25-54.

“ABC World News with Diane Sawyer” has increased its Total Viewing audience year to year in all 10 weeks of the 2011-12 season.  Season-to-date, “World News” is  up in both Total Viewers (+5%)  and Adults 25-54 (+3%) compared to the same point last season. Additionally,  “World News” has cut its season-to-date gaps with “NBC Nightly News” by double digits in both Total Viewers (-18%)  and  Adults 25-54 (-16%),  posting its smallest news demo margin (326,000)  with the NBC program in 3 years - since the 2008-09 season.

Note :  George Stephanopoulos anchored “World News” Monday-Wednesday. ABC’s weekly average was based on three days (Mon-Wed), NBC’s weekly average was based on three days (Mon, Tues & Fri) and CBS’ weekly average was based on two days (Mon-Tue). With Thanksgiving week, “ABC World News” on Thursday, “NBC Nightly News” on Wednesday and Thursday, and “CBS Evening News” on Wednesday and Friday were coded specials and are excluded from the weekly average.  In addition, “World News” on Friday and “Evening News” on Thursday did not air. 

“ABC World News with Diane Sawyer” airs at 6:30 p.m., (ET) on the ABC Television Network.  Michael Corn is the executive producer of the broadcast.

EVENING NEWS (November 2011 Sweep)

EVENING NEWS (Week of November 21, 2011)

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 Live + SD weeks of 11/21/11, 11/14/11 & 11/22/10.  2011-2012 Season (9/19 – 11/27/11) and 2010-2011 Season (9/20 – 11/28/10).   November 2011 Sweep (10/27-11/23/11) & November 2010 Sweep (10/28-11/24/10).  July 2011 Sweep (6/30-7/27/11).  Sweep periods (November, February, May and July).