"ABC World News" Slashes Total Viewing Gap with NBC by 56% and Demo Gap by 69%, Year-to-Year

ABC Posts Largest Gains Among Both Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 Week-to-Week, Year-to-Year

"ABC World News" Most-Watched Newscast in Key News Demo on Friday

First Quarter-to-Date, "ABC World News" Cuts Total Viewing (-38%) and Demo (-31%) Gaps with "NBC Nightly News" to Smallest in 5 Years

In 2013 "World News" Grows Overall Audience During First Quarter-to-Date While NBC Declines

For the week of March 18, 2013, "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" averaged 7.85 million Total Viewers and a 1.7 rating/7 share/1.98 million in Adults 25-54, according to Nielsen Media Research. "World News" posted week-to-week increases in both Total Viewers (+9%) and Adults 25-54 (+6%) - 7.19 million and 1.87 million, respectively, on w/o 3/11/13. "World News" grew the most over the previous week compared to "CBS Evening News" (+3%/-3%) and "NBC Nightly News" (+4%/+2%).

"World News" aired the No. 1 telecast on Friday (3/22/13) in Adults 25-54, outperforming NBC's "Nightly News" by +12,000 demo viewers (1.761 million vs. 1.749 million) .

For the 7th time in the last 8 weeks, "World News" turned in year-to-year gains among both Total Viewers (+11%) and Adults 25-54 (+7%) - 7.08 million and 1.85 million, respectively, on w/o 3/19/12. "World News" saw the largest increases over its year-ago performance in both measures versus "CBS Evening News" (+10%/+4%) and "NBC Nightly News" (+1%/-8%).

"World News" slashed its year-to-year margins with "NBC Nightly News" by more than half among both Total Viewers (-56% - 525,000 vs. 1.20 million ) and Adults 25-54 (-69% - 146,000 vs. 467,000), closing the gap with "Nightly News" versus the year-ago week in 7 of the last 8 weeks.

"World News" cut its week-to-week gaps with "NBC Nightly News" by double-digits in both Total Viewers (-40%, 525,000 vs. 876,000) and Adults 25-54 (-30%, 146,000 vs. 210,000). "World News" turned in its smallest news demo margin with the NBC program in 9 months - since w/o 6/11/12.

Season-to-date, "World News" has increased its Total Viewing audience (+3%) compared to the same point last season, drawing its most-watched season in 2 years - since the 2010-11 season. "World News" narrowed its margins by double-digits among both Total Viewers (-27%) and Adults 25-54 (-11%) with "NBC Nightly News" to post its smallest Total Viewer gap (790,000) with the NBC program in 5 years and narrowest demo margin (330,000) in 4 years - since the 2007-08 and the 2008-09 seasons, respectively.

For the week, "ABC World News" beat "CBS Evening News" by 1.23 million Total Viewers and by 262,000 Adults 25-54.

Note: "CBS Evening News" aired with low coverage and was broken out on Thu 3/21/13 (76%) and Fri 3/22/13 (76%) due to NCAA Basketball and was retitled "CBS-Evening-Nws;" ratings for both days were excluded from the average. "CBS Evening News" averages are based on 3 days (Mon-Wed), while "World News" and "Nightly News" are based on 5 days.

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Through 12 of 13 weeks of 1Q13, "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" is averaging 8.28 million Total Viewers and a 1.8 rating/7 share/2.16 million among Adults 25-54. "World News" is up versus the previous quarter (7.87 million and 2.02 million for 4Q12) and the year-ago quarter (7.89 million and 2.11 million for 1Q12) among both Total Viewers (+5% and +5%, respectively) and Adults 25-54 (+7% and +3%, respectively). In fact, the ABC evening newscast is averaging its strongest quarter performance in 2 years- since 1Q11.

In addition, "World News" has posted year-to-year increases in 11 of 12 weeks of 1Q13 to-date in Total Viewers and in 8 of 12 weeks in Adults 25-54.

"World News" is narrowing its year-to-year quarter gaps (1Q12) with "NBC Nightly News" by double-digits in both Total Viewers (-38%, 781,000 vs. 1.26 million) and Adults 25-54 (-31%, 300,000 vs. 435,000), its closest first quarter margins in 5 years - since 1Q08.

Compared to the previous quarter (4Q12), "World News" is decreasing its margins with "NBC Nightly News" in Total Viewers (-2%, 781,000 vs. 796,000) and Adults 25-54 (-16%, 300,000 vs. 358,000), delivering its smallest Total Viewers gap with the NBC newscast in 6 quarters - since 3Q11.

1Q13-to-date, "World News" is beating the "CBS Evening News" by 1.21 million Total Viewers and by 171,000 Adults 25-54 viewers.

RELATED : ABC News Launches #MyWorldNewsStory Campaign

"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 March 18, 2013)

EVENING NEWS (1st Quarter 2013-to-date)

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 Live + SD weeks of 3/18/13, 3/11/13 & 3/19/12. Most Current - 2012-2013 Season (9/24/12 - 3/24/13) and 2011-2012 Season (9/19/11 - 3/18/12). All averages based on regular telecasts. Most Current - 1Q13-to-date: 12/31/12 - 3/24/12. 1Q12: 12/26/11 - 3/25/12. 3Q12: 9/24 - 12/30/12.