Ratings: “ABC World News” the Only Evening Newscast to Grow Demo Audience During Second Week of the London Olympics

During the Second Week of the London Olympics, “ABC World News” Was the Only Evening Newscast to Grow its Demo Audience Week-to-Week 

Week-to-Week, ABC Closed the Total Viewing and Demo Gaps with NBC by Double-Digits 

“ABC World News” Delivered its Largest Demo Advantage Over CBS Since May 

For the week of August 6, 2012, “ABC World News with Diane Sawyer” averaged 6.78 million Total Viewers and a 1.5 rating/6 share/1.82 million in Adults 25-54, according to Nielsen Media Research.

“World News” improved week to week in Adults 25-54 by +5% (1.73 million on w/o 7/30/12), standing as the only evening newscast to grow over the prior week in the key adult news demo (“NBC Nightly News” was down -14%; “CBS Evening News” was down -5%).  In fact, this stands as the sixth Olympic Games in a row (Summer and Winter) for “World News” to grow its Adults 25-54 audience in week 2 versus week 1 in the two weeks opposite an Olympic-fueled-”NBC Nightly News.”

“World News” decreased its margins with “NBC Nightly News” from the previous week by double-digits in both Total Viewers (-25% – 3.00 million vs. 4.00 million) and Adults 25-54 (-34% – 1.07 million vs. 1.61 million).

Season-to-date, “World News” is narrowing its gap with “NBC Nightly News” in Adults 25-54 (-17%), delivering its smallest news demo margin (393,000) with the NBC program in 3 years – since the 2008-09 season.

“World News” outperformed the “CBS Evening News” by 1.39 million Total Viewers and 280,000 Adults 25-54, turning in its largest news demo margin over the CBS program in 11 weeks - since w/o 5/21/12.

Note: George Stephanopoulos anchored the broadcast Monday-Thursday, while “World News” weekend anchor David Muir anchored on Friday.

“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 August 6, 2012)

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 Live + SD weeks of 8/6/12, 7/30/12 & 8/8/11.  Most Current – 2011-2012 Season (9/19/11 – 8/12/12) and 2010-2011 Season (9/20/11 – 8/14/11).