"World News Tonight" Delivers Closest Performance with "NBC Nightly News" in 7 Years During a February Sweep Across All Measures

"World News Tonight" Improves the Most (+12%) in Total Viewers Compared to the Year-Ago Week

"World News Tonight" is Averaging 532,000 More Viewers Every Night Season to Date Compared to Last Season

Season to Date, "World News Tonight" is Up the Most in Total Viewers (+6%) and the Only Program to Increase Among Adults 25-54 (+3%)

February 2015 Sweep

"World News Tonight with David Muir" averaged 9.452 million Total Viewers, 2.401 million Adults 25-54 and 1.606 million Adults 18-49 during the 2015 February sweep, based on Most Current Data from Nielsen Media Research.

"World News Tonight" attracted its largest overall sweep audience in 8 years - since February 2007. For the 2nd sweep in a row, "World News Tonight" scored across-the-board gains versus the previous sweep (8.989 million, 2.287 million and 1.542 million, respectively, for November 2014) in all key target demos: Total Viewers (+5%), Adults 25-54 (+5%) and Adults 18-49 (+4%).

Compared to the year-ago sweep, "World News Tonight" improved in Total Viewers by 8% (9.452 million vs. 8.788 million for February 2014), increasing its overall February sweep audience for the 3rd year in a row. In addition, "World News" was up the most versus February 2014 compared to "CBS Evening News" (+3%) and "NBC Nightly News" (-8%).

"World News Tonight" slashed its margins with "NBC Nightly News" from the year-ago sweep by more than half in Total Viewers (-80% - 387,000 vs. 1.964 million), Adults 25-54 (-84% - 58,000 vs. 370,000) and Adults 18-49 (-65% - 139,000 vs. 401,000) to post its closest February sweep performance with the NBC newscast in 7 years - since February 2008. In addition, "World News Tonight" cut its sweep-to-sweep margin in Total Viewers for the 4th sweep in a row to mark its closest Total Viewer sweep performance with "Nightly News" in more than 6 years - since November 2008.

"World News" beat CBS' "Evening News" by 1.436 million Total Viewers, by 500,000 Adults 25-54 and by 339,000 during the 2015 February sweep, seeing its best news demo advantage during any sweep in more than 5 years and biggest lead in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49 during a February sweep in 4 years - since November 2009 and February 2011, respectively.

Week of February 23, 2015

ABC News' "World News Tonight with David Muir" averaged 9.473 million Total Viewers, 2.373 million Adults 25-54 and 1.311 million Adults 18-49 for the week of February 23, 2015, based on Live +Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research.

On Monday (2/24/15), "World News Tonight" ranked No. 1, leading "NBC Nightly News" in Adults 25-54 (+188,000 - 2.853 million vs. 2.665 million) and Adults 18-49 (+61,000 - 1.995 million vs. 1.934 million). In addition, "World News Tonight" ranked No. 1 on Tuesday (2/24/15), beating the NBC program in Total Viewers (+32,000 - 9.989 million vs. 9.957 million) and Adults 25-54 (+130,000 - 2.579 million vs. 2.449 million). "World News Tonight's" owned the week's No. 1 Adults 25-54 telecast with its Monday airing.

For the 2nd week in a row, "World News Tonight" improved on the year-ago week (8.438 million and 2.247 million, respectively, on w/o 2/24/14): Total Viewers (+12%) and Adults 25-54 (+4%). The ABC evening newscast was up the most year to year compared to "CBS Evening News" (+11%) and "NBC Nightly News" (flat).

"World News Tonight" slashed its Total Viewer margins with "NBC Nightly News" both week to week (-52% - 198,000 vs. 416,000) and year to year (-84% - 198,000 vs. 1.204 million). In addition, "World News Tonight" turned in its closest overall viewer gap with the NBC program since September (w/o 09/29/14) and 2nd-closest performance of the season.

"World News Tonight" is averaging 532,000 more viewers, season to date, compared to the same time frame last season (8.865 million vs. 8.333 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 standing as the only evening newscast to grow in Adults 25-54 compared to "CBS Evening News" (+2%/-1%) and "NBC Nightly News" (-1%/-7%).

Season to date, "World News Tonight" has slashed nearly all of its season margin with "NBC Nightly News" in Adults 25-54 (-87% - 37,000 vs. 275,000), 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 (-53% - 559,000 vs. 1.197 million) and Adults 18-49 (-54% - 141,000 vs. 305,000) 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 1.446 million Total Viewers, by 417,000 Adults 25-54 and by 305,000 Adults 18-49.

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 (February 2015 Sweep)

EVENING NEWS (Week of February 23, 2015)

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD weeks of 2/23/15, 2/16/15 and 2/24/14. Most Current: 2014-2015 Season (9/22/14 - 3/1/15) and 2013-2014 Season (9/23/13 - 3/2/14). Most Current: February 2015 Sweep (1/29-2/25/15), February 2014 Sweep (1/30-2/26/14) and November 2014 Sweep (10/30-11/26/14). Sweep periods (November, February, May and July). NOTE: Due to the digital transition, the 2009 February sweep was 3/5 - 4/1/09. Averages based on regular telecasts.

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