"World News Tonight with David Muir" Improves Year-to-Year in Total Viewers - 15th Week in a Row

ABC News’  “World News Tonight with David Muir” averaged 7.684 million Total Viewers, 1.810 million Adults 25-54 and 1.276 million Adults 18-49 for the week of August 10, 2015, based on Live +Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research.

“World News Tonight” was up on the same week last year in Total Viewers (+2% - 7.684 million vs. 7.558 million on w/o 8/11/14).  The ABC evening newscast has turned in overall viewer gains year to year for the last 15 weeks.   

“World News Tonight” improved on its previous week’s performance (7.493 million, 1.772 million and 1.214 million, respectively, on w/o 8/3/15) in all key target demos: Total Viewers (+3%), Adults 25-54 (+2%), Adults 18-49 (+5%), drawing its most-watched week in 7 weeks – since w/o 6/22/15.  In fact, “World News Tonight” grew the most in Total Viewers and stood as the only program to grow week to week in either key adult demos compared to “CBS Evening News” (-3%/-2%/-5%) and “NBC Nightly News” (+1%/-2%/-5%).

“World News Tonight” narrowed its week-to-week margins with “NBC Nightly News” by double-digits across the board: Total Viewers (-24% - 269,000 vs. 355,000), Adults 25-54 (-37% - 121,000 vs. 192,000) and Adults 18-49 (-60% - 89,000 vs. 220,000).

“World News Tonight” cut its Total Viewer gap with “NBC Nightly News” from the year to year for the 6th consecutive week (-42% - 269,000 vs. 465,000).

Season to date, “World News Tonight” is averaging 476,000 more viewers, compared to the same time frame last season (8.350 million vs. 7.874 million), while “NBC Nightly News” is posting a 231,000 average loss (8.700 million vs. 8.931 million).  For the 2nd year in a row, “World News Tonight” is improving versus the same point last season in both Total Viewers (+6%) and Adults 25-54 (+1%).  In fact, “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” (+3%/-2%) and “NBC Nightly News” (-3%/-6%).

Season to date, “World News Tonight” has slashed nearly all of its season margin with “NBC Nightly News” in Adults 25-54 (-90% - 16,000 vs. 165,000), delivering its closest news demo performance with the NBC program in 8 years – since the 2006-07 season.

“World News Tonight” cut its season gaps with “NBC Nightly News” by more than half in Total Viewers (-67% - 350,000 vs. 1.057 million) and Adults 18-49 (-59% - 90,000 vs. 221,000) to its closest performance in 7 years in Total Viewers and in 8 years in Adults 18-49  – since the 2007-08 and the 2006-07 seasons, respectively.

“World News Tonight” is averaging its largest overall viewer audience in 8 years and strongest in the key adult news demo in 4 years – since the 2006-07 and the 2010-11 seasons, respectively.

For the week, “World News Tonight” led the “CBS Evening News” by 1.305 million Total Viewers, by 354,000 Adults 25-54 and by 269,000 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 (Week of August 10, 2015)

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD weeks of 8/10/15, 8/3/15 and 8/11/14.  Most Current: 2014-2015 Season (9/22/14 – 8/16/15) and 2013-2014 Season (9/23/13 – 8/17/14).   Averages based on regular telecasts.