"World News" Finishes the 2012-13 Season to Post Smallest Margins with NBC in Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 in 5 Years

"World News" is Only Evening Newscast Up in Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 in 3rd Quarter 2013 Versus Last Year

Turns In Best 3Q Compared with NBC in 6 Years and Posts Largest News Demo Quarter Lead Over CBS in 10 Quarters

"World News" is the Only Evening Newscast to Post Increases Year-to-Year in Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 For The Week of September 16

For the week of September 16, 2013, "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" averaged 7.538 million Total Viewers and a 1.6 rating/7 share/1.910 million in Adults 25-54, according to Nielsen Media Research.

For the 2nd time in the last 3 weeks, "World News" aired the No. 1 telecast of the week in Total Viewers with its Monday broadcast, leading NBC's "Nightly News" on the night by +117,000 viewers (8.735 million vs. 8.618 million).

For the 8th straight week, "World News" cut its year-to-year gap with "Nightly News" by double-digits in Adults 25-54 (-45%, 173,000 vs. 316,000).

"World News" saw gains from the year-ago week (7.317 million and 1.767 million on w/o 9/17/12) for the 3rd week in a row in both Total Viewers (+3%) and Adults 25-54 (+8%). In addition, "World News" was the only evening newscast to post increases year-to-year in both Nielsen measures versus "CBS Evening News" (+6%/-15%) and "NBC Nightly News" (+4%/flat).

For the week, "World News" beat "CBS Evening News" by 1.375 million Total Viewers and by 497,000 Adults 25-54.

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For the 3rd Quarter 2013, "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" was up from the year-ago 3rd quarter in both Total Viewers (+1% - 7.222 million vs. 7.176 million) and Adults 25-54 (+1% - 1.840 million vs. 1.827 million). In fact, "World News" was the only evening newscast to be up over the same quarter last year in both Nielsen measures as "CBS Evening News" (+4%/-10%) was mixed, while "NBC Nightly News" (-8%/-16%) was down.

"World News" slashed its year-to-year quarter gaps (3Q12) with "NBC Nightly News" by more than half in both Total Viewers (-64%, 407,000 vs. 1.128 million) and Adults 25-54 (-76%, 117,000 vs. 491,000), turning in its closest 3Q performance with NBC in 6 years - since 3Q07.

Further, in the 12 weeks of 3Q13, "World News" narrowed its year-to-year margins with "Nightly News" in 8 of the 12 weeks in Total Viewers. In Adults 25-54, the ABC evening newscast cut its gap in 11 of the 12 weeks, while beating "Nightly News" in the remaining week ("World News" beat "Nightly News" in Adults 25-54 on w/o 7/22/13 during 3Q13).

Compared to the previous quarter (3Q12), "World News" decreased its gap with "NBC Nightly News" by double-digits in both Total Viewers (-48% - 407,000 vs. 786,000) and Adults 25-54 (-61% - 117,000 vs. 300,000), delivering its smallest quarter gaps with the NBC newscast in more than 5 years - since 2Q08.

"World News" outdelivered the "CBS Evening News" by 1.277 million Total Viewers and by 357,000 Adults 25-54 viewers during 3Q13, posting its largest news demo quarter lead over the CBS program in 10 quarters - since 1Q11.

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During the 2012-13, "World News" increased its Total Viewing audience (+2%) compared to the 2011-12 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" in both Total Viewers (-32%) and Adults 25-54 (-29%) to post its smallest season margins (713,000 and 273,000, respectively) with the NBC program in 5 years- since the 2007-08 season.

For the season, "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" averaged 7.659 million Total Viewers and a 1.7 rating/7 share/1.967 million among Adults 25-54.

During the week of July 22, 2013, "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" ranked as the No. 1 evening newscast among Adults 25-54, snapping NBC's 243-week winning streak. Since the win, "World News" has slashed its year-to-year demo margins by double-digits percentages and has trailed "Nightly News" by less than 100,000 demo viewers in 5 of the final 8 weeks, sustaining its growing momentum to close out the season.

"World News" outperformed "CBS Evening News" by 1.228 million viewers and by 247,000 Adults 25-54 during the season.

"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 September 16, 2013)

EVENING NEWS (2012-13 Season)

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 Live + SD weeks of 9/16/13, 9/9/13 & 9/17/12. Most Current - 2012-2013 Season (9/24/12 -9/22/13) and 2011-2012 Season (9/19/11 - 9/23/12). 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). 3Q13: 7/1 - 9/22/13. 2Q13: 4/1 - 6/30/13. 3Q12: 6/25 - 9/23/12.

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