For the 1 st Quarter of 2012, "ABC World News" Cuts the Demo Gap with "NBC Nightly News"  to Smallest Margin for a 1 st Quarter in 4 Years  

"ABC World News" Delivers Strongest Quarter Performance in 1 Year    

For the week of March 19, 2012, "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" averaged 7.08 million Total Viewers and a 1.5 rating/6 share/1.85 million in Adults 25-54, according to Nielsen Media Research.

For the 3rd week in a row, "World News" narrowed its week-to-week Adults 25-54 gap with "Nightly News" by double-digits (-13% - 467,000 vs. 535,000).

Season-to-date, "World News" has narrowed the gaps with "NBC Nightly News" among both Total Viewers (-5%) and Adults 25-54 (-19%), posting its smallest Total Viewer (1.09 million) and news demo margins (376,000) with the NBC program in 3 years - since the 2008-09 season.

"ABC World News" outperformed the "CBS Evening News" by 1.06 million Total Viewers and by 198,000 Adults 25-54 .

Note :  "CBS Evening News" aired with low coverage and was broken out on Thu 3/22/12 (97%) and Fri 3/23/12 (79%) due to NCAA Basketball and was retitled "CBS-Evening-Nws;" ratings for both days were excluded from the average.  "World News" and "Nightly News" are based on 5 days.

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For the 1st Quarter 2012, "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" averaged 7.89 million Total Viewers and a 1.7 rating/6 share/2.11 million among Adults 25-54.  "World News" was up over the previous quarter among both Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 (4Q11 - 7.78 million and 2.10 million, respectively), delivering its best quarter performance in a year - since 1Q11.

For the 2nd first quarter in a row, "World News" decreased its year-to-year news demo gap (1Q11) with "NBC Nightly News" (-15% - 435,000 vs. 512,000).  The ABC program turned in its smallest Adults 25-54 margin with "Nightly News" during a first quarter in 4 years - since 1Q08.  

"World News" beat the "CBS Evening News" during 1Q12 by 1.28 million Total Viewers and by 141,000 Adults 25-54 viewers.

"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. Follow Diane Sawyer and the "World News" team online: @DianeSawyer; @ABCWorldNews; facebook.com/WorldNews.

EVENING NEWS (Week of March 19, 2012)

EVENING NEWS (1st Quarter 2012)

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 Live + SD weeks of 3/19/12, 3/12/11 & 3/20/11.  Most Current - 2011-2012 Season (9/19/11 - 3/25/12) and 2010-2011 Season (9/20/11 - 3/26/11).  1Q12: 12/26/11- 3/25/12.  4Q11: 9/19/11 - 12/25/11.  1Q11: 12/27/10 - 3/27/11.