"ABC World News" Only Newscast to Grow Year-to-Year; Most-Watched Newscast In Key Demo on Thursday

"World News with Diane Sawyer" the Only Newscast to Grow its Overall Audience Year-to-Year - Broadcast Has Grown Overall Audience Year-to-Year in 6 of the Last 7 Weeks

On Thursday "World News" Stands as #1 Newscast in the Key News Demo

ABC Slashes Weekly Demo Gap with NBC Nearly in Half Delivering Smallest Gap in 2 Months

"World News" Cuts Overall Viewing Gap with "NBC Nightly News" Week-to-Week by 5%, Year-to-Year by 28%, Season-to-Date by 23%

For the week of December 3, 2012, "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" averaged 7.93 million Total Viewers and a 1.7 rating/7 share/2.05 million in Adults 25-54, according to Nielsen Media Research. For the 2nd week in a row and for the 6th time in the last 7 weeks, "World News" grew its overall audience year-to-year (+1% - 7.88 million on w/o 12/5/11). In fact, the ABC program was the only evening newscast grow its Total Viewer count over the year-ago week, as both "CBS Evening News" (-3%) and "NBC Nightly News" (-4%) were down.

On Thursday (12/6/12), "World News" finished as the most-watched evening newscast among Adults 25-54, outperforming "NBC Nightly News" by +12,000 demo viewers (2.044 million vs. 2.032 million).

"World News" cut its week-to-week margin with "NBC Nightly News" by -5% in Total Viewers (965,000 vs. 1.02 million), while slashing its margin in Adults 25-54 nearly in half (-45% - 234,000 vs. 422,000) to post its smallest news demo gap with the NBC program in 2 months - since w/o 10/8/12.

"World News" decreased its year-ago gaps with "NBC Nightly News" by double-digits in both Total Viewers (-28% - 965,000 vs. 1.35 million) and Adults 25-54 (-42% - 234,000 vs. 401,000), narrowing it year-to-year Total Viewing margin with the NBC newscast for the 4th time in the last 5 weeks.

Season-to-date, "World News" has increased its Total Viewing audience (+1% - 7.78 million vs. 7.73 million) compared to the same point last season, drawing its most-watched season in 3 years - since the 2009-10 season. In addition, "World News" has narrowed its Total Viewer gap (-23%) with "NBC Nightly News" by double-digits for the second year in a row to post its smallest gap (719,000) with the NBC program in 4 years- since the 2008-09 season.

"World News" outperformed "CBS Evening News" by 1.40 million Total Viewers and 213,000 Adults 25-54.

"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 December 3, 2012)

Total Viewers Adults 25-54 Households
ABC 7,930,000 1.7/7; 2,054,000 5.4/11
NBC 8,895,000 1.9/7; 2,288,000 6.0/11
CBS 6,530,000 1.6/6; 1,841,000 4.5/ 8

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 Live + SD weeks of 12/3/12, 11/26/12 & 12/5/11. Most Current - 2011-2012 Season (9/24 - 12/9/12) and 2011-2012 Season (9/19 - 12/4/11). All averages based on regular telecasts.