For the first time, ABC News' "World News Tonight with David Muir" was the No. 1 program on all broadcast and cable television in America in Total Viewers (8.965 million), Adults 25-54 (1.724 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.154 million) for the week of July 6, 2020, based on Live + Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research. "World News Tonight"'s performance stands as the first time that a network news program stood as the week's No. 1 program in Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 in at least 28 years (since at least the start of Nielsen electronic database in the 1991-1992 season). In addition, "World News Tonight" owned the Top 5 telecasts of the week in Total Viewers, 5 of the Top 6 in Adults 25-54 and 5 of the Top 7 in Adults 18-49.
For the first time in 24 years, "World News Tonight" is ranking as America's No. 1 newscast in Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 season to date - since the 1995-1996 season. In fact, "World News Tonight" is seeing its most-watched season in 17 years and strongest Adults 25-54 performance in 5 years - since the 2002-2003 and the 2014-2015 seasons, respectively.
"World News Tonight" finished as No. 1 evening newscast for the 15th week in a row in Total Viewers (8.965 million), Adults 25-54 (1.724 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.154 million). "World News Tonight" has won all 42 weeks of the season and the last 85 weeks overall in Total Viewers.
"World News Tonight" beat "NBC Nightly News" (7.595 million, 1.485 million and 1.018 million, respectively) and widened its lead week to week in Total Viewers (+11% - 1.370 million vs. 1.236 million), Adults 25-54 (+160% - 239,000 vs. 92,000) and Adults 18-49 (+289% - 136,000 vs. 35,000). In fact, "World News Tonight" turned in its largest news demo win in 12 weeks - since w/o 4/13/20.
"World News Tonight" delivered increases from the previous week in Adults 25-54 (+60,000/+4% - 1.724 million vs. 1.664 million) and Adults 18-49 (+39,000/+3% - 1.154 million vs. 1.115 million).
"World News Tonight" continues to post double-digit gains year to year across the board: Total Viewers (970,000/+12% - 8.965 million vs. 7.995 million), Adults 25-54 (+274,000/+19% - 1.724 million vs. 1.450 million) and Adults 18-49 (+169,000/+17% - 1.154 million vs. 985,000).
Season to date, "World News Tonight" (9.549 million) ranks No. 1 in Total Viewers at this point of the season for the 4th consecutive year, based on Most Current Data. In fact, "World News Tonight" is nearly doubling its lead over "NBC Nightly News" (8.461 million) from last season (+81% - 1.088 million vs. 600,000) to its largest season lead in 24 years - since the 1995-1996 season. "World News Tonight" is beating "CBS Evening News" (5.985 million) by 3.564 million, posting its biggest Total Viewer season advantage in at least 28 years (since at least the start of Nielsen electronic database in the 1991-1992 season).
"World News Tonight" is also No. 1 for the season in Adults 25-54, leading NBC by its largest news demo margin (+82,000 - 1.923 million vs. 1.841 million) in 24 years and taking the top spot for the first time at this point of a season in 13 years - since the 1995-1996 and the 2006-2007 seasons, respectively. "World News Tonight" is also leading NBC in Adults 18-49 (+22,000 - 1.303 million vs. 1.281 million) for the first time in 24 years - since the 1995-1996 season.
In addition, "World News Tonight" is improving in Total Viewers (+844,000/+10% - 9.549 million vs. 8.705 million), Adults 25-54 (+161,000/+9% - 1.923 million vs. 1.762 million) and Adults 18-49 (+117,000/+10 % - 1.303 million vs. 1.186 million), compared to the same point last season.
For the week, "World News Tonight" (8.965 million, 1.724 million and 1.154 million, respectively) defeated "CBS Evening News" (5.421 million, 995,000 and 659,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+3.544 million), Adults 25-54 (+729,000) and Adults 18-49 (+495,000).
NOTE: On Friday (7/10/20), "CBS Evening News" was retitled to "CBS Evening Nws." The retitled telecast is excluded from THE WEEKLY and season averages. CBS' weekly averages are based on four days (Monday-Thursday).
ABC's "World News Tonight with David Muir" airs 6:30-7:00 p.m. EDT on ABC. Almin Karamehmedovic is the executive producer of the broadcast.
EVENING NEWS (Week of July 6, 2020):
TOTAL VIEWERS |
ADULTS 25-54 |
ADULTS 18-49 |
HOUSEHOLDS |
|
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT |
8,965,000 |
1.4/ 9; 1,724,000 |
0.9/7; 1,154,000 |
5.9/14 |
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS |
7,595,000 |
1.2/ 8; 1,485,000 |
0.8/7; 1,018,000 |
4.9/12 |
CBS EVENING NEWS |
5,421,000 |
0.8/ 5; 995,000 |
0.5/4; 659,000 |
3.6/ 9 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 7/6/20), Previous Week (w/o 6/29/20) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 7/15/19). Most Current: 2019-2020 Season (9/23/19-7/12/20) and 2018-2019 Season (9/24/18-7/14/19). Nielsen ratings for ABC, NBC and CBS include additional airings in select markets. Averages based on regular telecasts. Broadcast and Cable ranker for w/o 7/6/20 based on Total Day.
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