"World News Tonight with David Muir" Wins Total Viewers with Largest Advantage Over NBC in Over 8 Years
ABC News’ “World News Tonight with David Muir” ranked as the week’s No. 1 evening newscast in Total Viewers (9.692 million) for the week of December 28, 2015, based on Live +Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research. “World News Tonight” outdelivered “NBC Nightly News” (9.291 million) by its largest advantage (+401,000) in more than 8 years – since w/o 10/22/07.
“World News Tonight” scored across-the-board increases on the same week last year (8.633 million, 2.216 million and 1.587 million, respectively, on w/o 12/29/14): Total Viewers (+12%), Adults 25-54 (+1%) and Adults 18-49 (+5%).
In addition, “World News Tonight” grew week-to-week (8.683 million, 1.887 million and 1.286 million, respectively, on w/o 12/21/15) by double digits in Total Viewers (+12%), Adults 25-54 (+19%) and Adults 18-49 (+27%). Hitting a new season high in Total Viewers, “World News Tonight” saw its most-watched week in nearly 1 year – since w/o 1/5/15.
“World News Tonight” slashed its week-to-week margins with “NBC Nightly News” in Adults 25-54 (-87% - 44,000 vs. 336,000) and Adults 18-49 (-88% - 33,000 vs. 275,000).
On Monday (12/28/15), “World News Tonight” turned in its top telecast in 10 months (since 2/23/15, 2/24/15 and 2/23/15, respectively) in all key target demos: Total Viewers (10.233 million), Adults 25-54 (2.565 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.843 million). Further, “World News Tonight’s” Monday airing stood as the week’s most-watched telecast.
On Tuesday (12/29/15), “World News Tonight” outperformed “NBC Nightly News” by +895,000 Total Viewers (9.761 million vs. 8.866 million), its largest single-day advantage in nearly 7 months – since 6/3/15, based on regular telecasts.
Season to date, “World News Tonight” is improving versus the same point last season in Total Viewers (+1% - 8.581 million vs. 8.510 million). Growing for the 5th straight year, “World News Tonight” is delivering its largest overall viewer audience in 8 years – since the 2007-08 season.
In addition, “World News Tonight” is narrowing its Total Viewer season margin with “NBC Nightly News” by double digits (-48% - 326,000 vs. 633,000) for the 2nd season in a row, posting its closest overall viewer performance with the NBC program in 8 years – since the 2007-08 season.
For the week, “World News Tonight” beat the “CBS Evening News” by 1.819 million Total Viewers, by 281,000 Adults 25-54 and by 319,000 Adults 18-49.
Note: With the New Year’s holiday (1/1/16), ABC’s “World News Tonight,” CBS’ “Evening News” and NBC’s “Nightly News” were coded as specials on Thursday and Friday. All specialed telecasts are excluded from the weekly averages. ABC’s, CBS’ and NBC’s program averages are based on 3 days (Mon-Wed).
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.
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD weeks of 12/28/15, 12/21/15 and 12/29/14. Most Current: 2015-2016 Season (9/21/15 – 1/3/16) and 2014-2015 Season (9/22/15 – 1/4/15). Averages based on regular telecasts.