BUILDING ON MONTHS OF MOMENTUM, "WORLD NEWS WITH DIANE SAWYER" BREAKS "NBC NIGHTLY NEWS" 243-WEEK WINNING STREAK - IS MOST-WATCHED EVENING NEWSCAST IN KEY NEWS DEMO

"World News" Team Slashes Total Viewing Gap with NBC to Smallest in 42 Weeks - Gap Cut to 249,000 Viewers from 1.28 Million a Year-Ago

"World News" Grows Both Total Viewing and Demo Audiences as NBC and CBS Decline

Season-to-Date, "ABC World News" Posting Smallest Gaps with "NBC Nightly News" in 5 Years

"ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" ranked as the No. 1 evening newscast among Adults 25-54 for the week of July 22, 2013, snapping NBC's 243-week winning streak. "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" beat "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams" by +38,000 Adults 25-54 (1.917 million vs. 1.879 million) according to Nielsen Media Research. This marks ABC's largest demo margin over the NBC program in nearly 5 years - since w/o 10/27/08.

The weekly win comes after "World News" cut the demo gap with NBC by double-digits in each of the five preceding weeks and one week after, for the first time in 3.5 years, the Diane Sawyer led newscast beat "Nightly News" twice during the course of a week among Adults 25-54.

"Diane and I are incredibly proud of the talented team of producers and correspondents who come in every day curious about the world. We appreciate the support from our local stations and most of all the loyal viewers who trust us to bring them the most important and compelling stories of the day. We have a lot more work to do. We're just getting started," said Michael Corn, Executive Producer.

RELATED: "World News with Diane Sawyer" Wins Murrow Award for Best Newscast

In addition, "World News" aired the No. 1 telecast on Thursday (7/25/13) in Total Viewers, outdrawing "NBC Nightly News" by +312,000 viewers (7.393 million vs. 7.081 million) .

In Total Viewers, "World News" delivered its closest performance with the NBC program in 42 weeks - behind only premiere week, w/o 9/24/12, regular telecasts. "World News" slashed its Total Viewing margins with "NBC Nightly News" both week-to-week (-62%, 249,000 vs. 659,000) and year-to-year (-81%, 249,000 vs. 1.28 million).

For the 2nd week in a row, "World News" improved over the previous week (7.01 million and 1.82 million, respectively on w/o 7/15/13) among both Total Viewers (+4%) and Adults 25-54 (+5%), turning in its strongest performance in 2 months - since w/o 5/20/13. In addition, "World News" stood as the only evening news to post week-to-week increases as both "CBS Evening News" (-2%/-4%) and "NBC Nightly News" (-2%/-2%) turned in losses.

"World News" was up over the year-ago week in both Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 - 7.25 million and 1.91 million, respectively, on w/o 7/23/12. "World News" was also the only evening newscast to improve year-to-year in both measures, as both "CBS Evening News" (-1%/-11%) and "NBC Nightly News" (-12%/-23%) lost viewers.

Season-to-date, "World News" has increased its Total Viewing audience (+2%) 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 with "NBC Nightly News" among both Total Viewers
(-21%) and Adults 25-54 (-13%) to post its smallest margins (-771,000 and 300,000, respectively) with the NBC program in 5 years- since the 2007-08 season.

For the week, "World News" beat "CBS Evening News" by 1.33 million Total Viewers and by 411,000 Adults 25-54, leading the CBS program my its largest news demo margin in more than 1.5 years - since w/o 12/19/11.

"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 July 22, 2013)

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 Live + SD weeks of 7/22/13, 7/15/13 & 7/23/12. Most Current - 2012-2013 Season (9/24/12 -7/28/13) and 2011-2012 Season (9/19/11 - 7/22/12). All averages based on regular telecasts. (*Note: Due to coverage of Hurricane Sandy, w/o 10/29/12 was coded as a breakout and is excluded from the season count) .