"ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" Only 42,000 Viewers Behind "NBC Nightly News" - Slashes Total Viewer Gap with NBC by 92% Year-to-Year

"ABC World News" Stands as Most-Watched Evening Newscast Among Total Viewers on Tuesday and Friday - Ranks #1 on Friday Among Adults 25-54

"ABC World News" Has Most-Watched Premiere Week in 4 Years

For the week of September 24, 2012, the start of the 2012-13 season, "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" averaged 7.39 million Total Viewers and a 1.5 rating/6 share/1.80 million in Adults 25-54, according to Nielsen Media Research.

"ABC World News" was up week-to-week in both Total Viewers (+1%) and Adults 25-54 (+2%) - 7.32 million and 1.77 million, respectively, on w/o 9/17/12. "World News" stood as the only evening news program to grow in both measures over the prior week as the "CBS Evening News" was mixed (+5%/-1%) and "NBC Nightly News" was down (-5%/-4%). Further, "World News" has increased its Total Viewer count week to week in 6 of the past 7 weeks.

In addition, "World News" was up over the year-ago week by +2% in Total Viewers (7.27 million - w/o 9/19/11) to post its most-watched premiere week in 4 years - since the opening week of the 2008-09 season.

"World News" ranked as the most-watched evening newscast twice during premiere week in Total Viewers, topping NBC's "Nightly News" by +129,000 on Tuesday (7.935 million vs. 7.806,000 - 9/25/12) and by +587,000 on Friday (6.756 million vs. 6.169 million - 9/28/12). This marks the first time in over 1 year that "World News" beat the NBC program twice in Total Viewers during the course of the week (regular telecasts) - since w/o 8/15/11. In addition, "World News" finished #1 in Adults 25-54 on Friday, beating the NBC program by +74,000 demo viewers (1.693 million vs. 1.619 million).

"World News" slashed nearly all of its Total Viewer gap with "NBC Nightly News" versus the prior week to only 42,000 viewers (-92% - 508,000 on w/o 9/17/12) to deliver its closest overall viewer performance in 3 years - since w/o 9/7/09. In addition, "World News" narrowed its week-to-week Adults 25-54 margin by double-digits (-37% - 200,000 vs. 316,000).

"World News" also slashed its Total Viewers margin with "NBC Nightly News" versus premiere week last year (-94% - 42,000 vs. 699,000) , while narrowing its Adults 25-54 margin by -10% (200,000 vs. 222,000).

"ABC World News" bettered the "CBS Evening News" by 1.24 million Total Viewers and 157,000 Adults 25-54.

NOTE : On Thursday, George Stephanopoulos anchored "World News," while David Muir anchored "World News" 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/DianeSawyer; facebook.com/WorldNews.

• RELATED : ABC News Recognized with Seven News & Documentary Emmy Awards
• RELATED: "This Week" Improves on the Final Telecast of the 2010-11 Season by +16% in Total Viewers and by +10% Adults 25-54

EVENING NEWS (Week of September 24, 2012)

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 Live + SD weeks of 9/24/12, 9/17/12 & 9/19/11.