"World News Tonight with David Muir" Wins the May 2015 Sweep for the First Time in 8 Years - in Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49
May 2015 Sweep
“ABC World News with David Muir” won the 2015 May Sweep in Adults 25-54 (1.826 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.257 million), based on Most Current Data from Nielsen Media Research. “World News Tonight’s” win represented its first May sweeps victory in both measures in 8 years – since May 2007. In fact, looking at all sweeps, the ABC evening newscast has won 3 of the last 4 sweeps periods in Adults 25-54 - May 2015, November 2014 (first in 18 years) and July 2014 (first in 7 years) - and turned in its first Adults 18-49 sweeps win in nearly 8 years – since July 2007.
“World News Tonight” led NBC’s “Nightly News” (1.766 million and 1.244 million, respectively) by 60,000 Adults 25-54 and 13,000 Adults 18-49, posting its largest Adults 25-54 sweep advantage in nearly 8 years – since July 2007.
In addition, “World News Tonight” slashed its Total Viewer margins with “NBC Nightly News” both from the previous sweep (-91% - 37,000 vs. 393,000 for February 2015) and the year-ago sweep (-96% - 37,000 vs. 1.029 million for May 2014). The ABC evening newscast turned in its closest overall viewer performance with “Nightly News” during any sweep in nearly 8 years and during a May sweep in 8 years – since July 2008 and May 2008, respectively.
“World News Tonight” improved on May 2014 in Total Viewers (+3% - 7.686 million vs. 7.440 million) to score its most-watched May in 4 years – since May 2011. In addition, “World News Tonight” grew its overall audience the most from the year-ago sweep compared to “CBS Evening News” (+2%) and “NBC Nightly News” (-9%).
“World News” led CBS’ “Evening News” by 1.043 million Total Viewers, by 355,000 Adults 25-54 and by 238,000 Adults 18-49 during the May 2015 sweep.
Week of May 18, 2015
ABC News’ “World News Tonight with David Muir” averaged 7.541 million Total Viewers, 1.747 million Adults 25-54 and 1.203 million Adults 18-49 for the week of May 18, 2015, based on Live +Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research.
“World News Tonight” slashed its year-to-year margins with “NBC Nightly News” in Total Viewers (-92% - 53,000 vs. 627,000).
“World News Tonight” improved on the same week last year in Total Viewers for the 3rd week in a row (+4% - 7.541 million vs. 7.250 million on w/o 5/19/14). In fact, “World News Tonight” has seen year-to-year Total Viewer gains in 8 of the last 9 weeks.
“World News Tonight” is averaging 473,000 more viewers, season to date, compared to the same time frame last season (8.578 million vs. 8.105 million), while “NBC Nightly News” is posting a 304,000 average loss (8.965 million vs. 9.269 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%). “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%/-3%) and “NBC Nightly News” (-3%/-8%).
Season to date, “World News Tonight” is running neck and neck with “NBC Nightly News” in Adults 25-54, slashing nearly all of its season margin (-98% - 5,000 vs. 210,000) to deliver 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 (-67% - 387,000 vs. 1.164 million) and Adults 18-49 (-65% - 92,000 vs. 263,000) to its closest performances in 7 years in both measures – since the 2007-08 season.
For the week, “World News Tonight” led the “CBS Evening News” by 643,000 million Total Viewers, by 207,000 Adults 25-54 and by 116,000 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 (May 2015 Sweep)
EVENING NEWS (Week of May 18, 2015)
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD weeks of 5/18/15, 5/11/15 and 5/19/14. Most Current: 2014-2015 Season (9/22/14 – 5/24/15) and 2013-2014 Season (9/23/13 – 5/25/14). Averages based on regular telecasts. Most Current: May 2015 Sweep (4/23-5/20/15), May 2014 Sweep (4/24-5/21/14) and February 2015 Sweep (1/29-2/25/15). Sweep periods (November, February, May and July). NOTE: Due to the digital transition, the 2009 February sweep was 3/5 – 4/1/09.