Reporting on the Democratic National Convention, "ABC World News" Scores Smallest Total Viewer Gap with "NBC Nightly News" in 3 Years - Smallest Gap Since September 2009

On Friday, "ABC World News" Delivered its Most-Watched Newscast in 6 Months

"ABC World News" Narrows Total Viewing Margin with NBC for 5 th Consecutive Week

ABC Newscast Slashes Year-to-Year Viewing Gaps with "NBC Nightly News" by More than Half

For the week of September 3, 2012, the week of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" averaged 7.41 million Total Viewers and a 1.5 rating/6 share/1.76 million in Adults 25-54, according to Nielsen Media Research. Growing its Total Viewing audience (+2% - 7.25 million on w/o 8/27/12) for the 4th week in a row, "World News" drew its largest overall audience in 6 months - since w/o 3/5/12. In addition, "World News" stood as the only evening newscast to grow its overall audience week-to-week ("NBC Nightly News:" -3%; "CBS Evening News:" -8%).

For the 5th week running, "World News" narrowed its week-to-week Total Viewer margin with "NBC Nightly News" (-60% - 276,000 vs. 695,000) to post its smallest gap with the NBC newscast in 3 years - since w/o 9/7/09.

On Friday, "World News" scored its most-watched telecast (8.29 million - 9/7/12) in more than 6 months - since 2/27/12.

"World News" slashed its year-to-year margins with "NBC Nightly News" by more than half in both Total Viewers (-74% - 276,000 vs. 1.07 million) and Adults 25-54 (-52% - 251,000 vs. 528,000).

Season-to-date, "World News" is narrowing its gap with "NBC Nightly News" in Adults 25-54 (-18%), delivering its smallest news demo margin (386,000) with the NBC program in 3 years - since the 2008-09 season.

"World News" outperformed the "CBS Evening News" by 1.83 million Total Viewers and 157,000 Adults 25-54, turning in its largest Total Viewer advantage in nearly 1 year - since w/o 10/10/11.

With the Democratic Party gathered to formally nominate Barack Obama for President, "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" tracked down the key players in Charlotte. Diane Sawyer spoke with Democratic keynote speaker San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro and First Lady Michelle Obama while David Muir spoke to Caroline Kennedy.

NOTE: Due to the Labor Day Holiday on Monday (9/3/12), "ABC World News," "NBC Nightly News" and "CBS Evening News" were coded specials & excluded from the averages. On Friday, "CBS Evening News" was retitled to "CBS-Evening-Nws" due to U.S. Open Tennis and on Wednesday, "NBC Nightly News" was retitled to "NBC Nitely News" due to NFL Football. Both telecasts were excluded from their respective averages. CBS' (Tue-Thurs) and NBC's (Tue, Thurs and Fri) weekly averages are based on 3 days, while ABC's (Tue-Fri) averages were based on 4 days. On Monday and Wednesday, David Muir anchored "World News."

While it was excluded from the weekly average due to the Labor Day Holiday, "World News" stood as the most-watched evening newscast on Monday (9/3/12), beating "NBC Nightly News" in both Total Viewers (+871,000 - 7.934 million vs. 7.063 million) and Adults 25-54 (+191,000 - 1.974 million vs. 1.783 million).

"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/DianeSawyer; facebook.com/WorldNews.

EVENING NEWS (Week of September 3, 2012)

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 Live + SD weeks of 9/3/12, 8/27/12 & 9/5/11. Season-to-date, Most Current - 2011-2012 Season (9/19/11 - 9/9/12) and 2010-2011 Season (9/20/11 - 9/11/11).