"World News" Airs #1 Newscast of the Week on Monday

For the Sixth Straight Week ABC Slashes Both Overall Viewing and Demo Gaps with NBC

"World News" Grows Overall and Demo Audiences Both Week-to-Week and Year-to-Year

For the week of September 2, 2013, "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" averaged 7.62 million Total Viewers and a 1.5 rating/6 share/1.86 million in Adults 25-54, according to Nielsen Media Research.

In Total Viewers, "World News" delivered its closest performance with the "NBC Nightly News" in nearly 1 year - behind only premiere week on w/o 9/24/12. "World News" slashed its week-to-week Total Viewer margin with "Nightly News" by more than half (-66%, 173,000 vs. 513,000).

On Monday, "World News" turned in its most-watched telecast (8.834 million) in nearly 5 months - since 4/15/13. In addition, the Monday broadcast stood as the week's #1 Total Viewer telecast, representing the first time in 2 years that the ABC evening newscast aired the week's top telecast - since w/o 8/15/11, based on regular telecasts.

For the 6th week in a row, "World News" cut its year-to-year gaps with "Nightly News" by double-digits in both Total Viewers (-37%, 173,000 vs. 276,000) and Adults 25-54 (-36%, 161,000 vs. 251,000).

"World News" improved on the same week last year (7.41 million and 1.76 million on w/o 9/3/12) in both Total Viewers (+3%) and Adults 25-54 (+5%). "World News" was up the most year-to-year in the key adult news demo compared to "CBS Evening News" (-9%) and "NBC Nightly News" (up less than +1%).

For the 2nd week in a row, "World News" built on the previous week (7.10 million and 1.77 million, respectively, on w/o 8/26/13) among both Total Viewers (+7%) and Adults 25-54 (+4%). In fact, "World News" drew its most-watched week in nearly 5 months - since w/o 4/15/13.

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" in both Total Viewers (-32%) and Adults 25-54 (-28%) to post its smallest margins (725,000 and 279,000, respectively) with the NBC program in 5 years - since the 2007-08 season.

For the week, "World News" outperformed "CBS Evening News" by 1.559 million Total Viewers and by 401,000 Adults 25-54. In fact, "World News" scored its largest Total Viewer advantage in more than 7 months - since w/o 1/28/13.

Note : On Monday (9/2/12), "NBC Nightly News" and "CBS Evening News" were coded specials & are excluded from the averages. On Friday, "CBS Evening News" was retitled to "CBS-Evening-Nws" and on Thursday, "NBC Nightly News" was retitled to "NBC Nitely News." Both telecasts were excluded from their respective averages. CBS' (Tue-Thurs) and NBC's (Tue, Wed and Fri) weekly averages are based on 3 days, while ABC's averages were based on 5 days.

"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 2, 2013)

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 Live + SD weeks of 9/2/13, 8/26/13 & 9/3/12. Most Current - 2012-2013 Season (9/24/12 -9/8/13) and 2011-2012 Season (9/19/11 - 9/2/12). 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) .