"World News with Diane Sawyer" Slashes Gap with "NBC Nightly News" to 421,000 Viewers - Marking Smallest Gap Since Premiere Week

"World News" Cut the Total Viewing Gap with NBC by More than Half Year-to-Year and Demo Gap by Nearly a Quarter

Season-to-Date, "World News" is in Most Competitive Position in Four Years

For the week of December 31, 2012, "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" averaged 8.48 million Total Viewers and a 1.8 rating/6 share/2.10 million in Adults 25-54, according to Nielsen Media Research. For the 2nd week in a row, "World News" improved on the prior week's performance in Total Viewers (+2% - 8.27 million on w/o 12/24/12), scoring its most-watched week in 7 weeks - since 11/12/12.

In addition, "World News" was up over the year-ago week in Total Viewers (+6% - 7.97 million on 1/2/12) . The ABC evening newscast has built on the same week last year in 5 of the last 6 weeks.

"World News" narrowed its week-to-week margins with "NBC Nightly News" by double-digits in both Total Viewers (-49% - 421,000 vs. 825,000) and Adults 25-54 (-11% - 352,000 vs. 394,000). "World News" posted its smallest overall viewer gap with the NBC program since premiere week more than 3 months ago - since w/o 9/24/12.

"World News" slashed its gaps "NBC Nightly News" on the same week last year by double-digits in both Total Viewers (-55% - 421,000 vs. 930,000) and Adults 25-54 (-24% - 352,000 vs. 464,000) .

Season-to-date, "World News" has increased its Total Viewing audience (+1%, 7.90 million vs. 7.79 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 (-16%) with "NBC Nightly News" by double-digits for the second year in a row to post its smallest gap (781,000) with the NBC program in 4 years- since the 2008-09 season.

"ABC World News" bettered "CBS Evening News" by 1.23 million Total Viewers and by 71,000 Adults 25-54.

Note : Due to the New Year's holiday, ABC's "World News" and CBS' "Evening News" were coded as specials on Monday (12/31/12) and Tuesday (1/1/13), while NBC's "Nightly News" was coded as a special on Monday. They are excluded from the weekly averages. ABC's and CBS' program averages are based on 3 days (Wed-Fri), while NBC's averages are based on 4 days (Tues-Fri). David Muir anchored the ABC broadcast on Monday and Tuesday.

"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 31, 2012)

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 Live + SD weeks of 12/31/12, 12/24/12 & 1/2/12. Most Current - 2012-2013 Season (9/24/12 - 1/6/13) and 2011-2012 Season (9/19/11 - 1/1/12). All averages based on regular telecasts.