Season to Date, "World News Tonight" is Averaging Over Half Million More Viewers Per Night Compared to Last Season

"World News Tonight" Cuts its Year-to-Year Gap with "NBC Nightly News" in Total Viewers by -83%

"World News Tonight" Closes the Season Gap with "NBC Nightly News" in Total Viewers (-52%) for Closest Performance in 7 Years

ABC News' "World News Tonight with David Muir" ranked as the No. 1 evening newscast in Adults 25-54 (2.571 million) during the week of February 16, 2015, based on Live +Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research. Season to date, "World News Tonight" took the top spot in the key adult news demo for the 10th time this season, its most number of wins at this point of a season in 18 years - since the 1996-97 season.

For the week, Senior Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas reported on exclusive video of teenage kidnapping victim Hannah Anderson and her dramatic rescue, Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross reported on the ISIS murders of 21 Egyptian Christians and Muir reported on the new interrogation tapes of the young girls who stabbed their friend 19 times allegedly for the fictional character Slenderman.

"World News Tonight" turned in week to week increases (9.032 million, 2.242 million and 1.475 million, respectively, for w/o 2/9/15) across all key target demos: Total Viewers (+7%), Adults 25-54 (+15%) and Adults 18-49 (+18%). "World News Tonight" saw its strongest news demo performance in 12 weeks and best Adults 18-49 deliver in over 1 year - since weeks of 11/24/14 and 2/3/14, respectively. In addition, "World News Tonight" is up the most from the previous week in both key adult demos compared to "CBS Evening News" (+13%/+13%, respectively) and "NBC Nightly News" (+11%/+9%, respectively).

"World News Tonight" saw across-the-board, double-digit gains year to year (8.012 million, 2.212 million and 1.484 million, respectively, on w/o 2/17/14): Total Viewers (+21%), Adults 25-54 (+16%) and Adults 18-49 (+17%). The ABC evening newscast grew the most from the year-ago week in all three measures versus "CBS Evening News" (+19%/+12%/+6%, respectively) and "NBC Nightly News" (-3%/-2%/-8%, respectively).

"World News Tonight" slashed nearly all of year-to-year gaps with "NBC Nightly News" in Total Viewers (-83% - 416,000 vs. 2.386 million) and Adults 18-49 (-94% - 26,000 vs. 426,000).

"World News Tonight" substantially decreased its week-to-week margin with "NBC Nightly News" in Adults 18-49 (-81% - 26,000 vs. 139,000) to deliver its closest performance with the NBC newscast in 7 weeks - since w/o 12/29/14.

"World News Tonight" is averaging 507,000 more viewers, season to date, compared to the same time frame last season (8.833 million vs. 8.326 million). "World News Tonight" is improving versus the same point last season in Total Viewers (+6%) and Adults 25-54 (+3%). "World News Tonight" is averaging its largest overall viewer audience in 7 years and strongest in the key adult news demo in 4 years - since the 2007-08 and the 2010-11 seasons, respectively. In addition, "World News Tonight" is improving the most in Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 compared to "CBS Evening News" (+2%/-1%) and "NBC Nightly News" (-1%/-8%).

Season to date, "World News Tonight" has slashed nearly all of its season margin with "NBC Nightly News" in Adults 25-54 (-88% - 35,000 vs. 283,000), delivering its closest news demo performance with the NBC program in 7 years - since the 2007-08 season. In addition, "World News Tonight" cut its season gaps with "NBC Nightly News" by more than half in Total Viewers (-52% - 578,000 vs. 1.198 million) and Adults 18-49 (-55% - 141,000 vs. 314,000) to its closest performances in 7 years in both measures - since the 2007-08 season.

For the week, "World News Tonight" beat the "CBS Evening News" by 1.190 million Total Viewers, by 546,000 Adults 25-54 and by 370,000 Adults 18-49, leading the CBS program by its largest news demo advantage in 12 weeks - since w/o 11/24/14.

ABC "World News Tonight with David Muir" airs at 6:30 p.m., ET on the ABC Television Network. Almin Karamehmedovic is the executive producer of the broadcast. Follow David Muir and the "World News Tonight" team online: @DavidMuir; @WNTonight; facebook.com/DavidMuirABC; facebook.com/WorldNewsTonight.

EVENING NEWS (Week of February 16, 2015)

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD weeks of 2/16/15, 2/9/15 and 2/17/14. Most Current: 2014-2015 Season (9/22/14 - 2/22/15) and 2013-2014 Season (9/23/13 - 2/23/14). Averages based on regular telecasts.

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