Press release - Ratings
September 24, 2024
With 7.7 Million Viewers — and for 8th Straight Season — ‘World News Tonight With David Muir’ Is America’s Most-Watched Newscast — and for Nearly Half the Year — 24 Weeks — the Newscast Is Most-Watched Program on All of U.S. Television
For the 5th Season in a Row, ‘World News Tonight’ Ranks #1 in All Key Demos — Total Viewers, Adults 25-54, Adults 18-49, Beating NBC by 1.3 Million Viewers and CBS by 3.0 Million Viewers
For the 30th Quarter in a Row, ‘World News Tonight’ Is #1 in Total Viewers in the 3rd Quarter of 2024, and for the 19th Straight Quarter the Newscast Wins Adults 25-54
After ABC News Presidential Debate, ‘World News Tonight with David Muir’ — Up 4% Over Debate Week — Is the #1 Newscast on All of Broadcast and Cable Across the Board, Increasing Lead by 74% Over NBC and 7% Over CBS Week to Week
2023-2024 Season:
“World News Tonight” stood as the most-watched evening newscast for the 8th straight season — since the 2016-17 season — based on Most Current Data from Nielsen Media Research. “World News Tonight” ranked as America’s No. 1 evening newscast for the 2023-2024 season in all key target demos, Total Viewers (7.717 million), Adults 25-54 (1.072 million) and Adults 18-49 (730,000), taking the top spot for the 5th year in a row.
- Historic firsts for the newscast: For the first time in 28 years, “World News Tonight” wins the most consecutive seasons in Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 (the Nielsen electronic database started in September 1991).
- “World News Tonight with David Muir” spent 24 of 52 weeks as the No. 1 program of the week in Total Viewers on all of broadcast and cable (with and without sports).
- The ABC evening newscast also stood as the No. 1 program of the week on all of broadcast and cable television in Total Viewers on 7 weeks of the season, tied for the most number of weeks at No. 1 this season (tied with Fox’s “NFL Sunday”).
- In addition, “World News Tonight” won 50 of 52 weeks of the 2023-24 season in Total Viewers, finishing behind only the two weeks of the Olympics-fueled NBC “Nightly News” weeks. Overall, “World News Tonight” has won the last 301 of 304 weeks in Total Viewers and 229 of the last 234 in Adults 25-54.
- “World News Tonight” outdelivered “NBC Nightly News” (6.437 million, 955,000 and 648,000, respectively) by 1.128 million Total Viewers, by 117,000 Adults 25-54 and by 82,000 Adults 18-49, respectively.
- “World News Tonight” (7.717 million, 1.072 million and 730,000, respectively) led “CBS Evening News” (4.651 million, 665,000 and 450,000, respectively) by 3.066 million Total Viewers, by 407,000 Adults 25-54 and by 280,000 Adults 18-49.
3rd Quarter 2024:
ABC News’ “World News Tonight with David Muir” won the 3rd Quarter 2024 in Total Viewers (7.305 million) and Adults 25-54 (995,000), based on Most Current Data from Nielsen Media Research. “World News Tonight” led the 3rd quarter in both measures for the 5th consecutive year. In addition, “World News Tonight” took the top spot in Total Viewers for the 30th quarter in a row and for the 19th straight quarter in Adults 25-54 — since 2Q17 and 1Q20, respectively.
- “World News Tonight” outdelivered “NBC Nightly News” (6.197 million and 951,000, respectively) by 1.108 million Total Viewers and by 34,000 Adults 25-54.
- For the 3rd quarter, “World News Tonight” (7.305 million, 995,000 and 678,000, respectively) outperformed “CBS Evening News” (4.337 million, 608,000 and 404,000, respectively) by 2.968 million Total Viewers, by 387,000 Adults 25-54 and by 274,000 Adults 18-49.
Week of Sept. 16, 2024:
“World News Tonight with David Muir” ranked as the No. 1 newscast on all of broadcast and cable in Total Viewers (7.184 million), Adults 25-54 (949,000) and Adults 18-49 (630,000) during the week of Sept. 16, 2024, based on Live + Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research.
- “World News Tonight” outperformed “NBC Nightly News” (5.612 million, 826,000 and 560,000, respectively) by 1.572 million Total Viewers, by 123,000 Adults 25-54 and by 70,000 Adults 18-49, respectively.
- “World News Tonight” widened its margins over “NBC Nightly News” versus the previous week in all key target demos: Total Viewer (+74% – 1.572 million vs. 905,000), Adults 25-54 (+43% – 123,000 vs. 86,000) and Adults 18-49 (+89% – 70,000 vs. 37,000).
- “World News Tonight” stood as the No. 2 program of the week in Total Viewers (7.184 million) on all of broadcast and cable (excluding sports).
- “World News Tonight” was up week to week in Total Viewers (+4%/+251,000 – 7.184 million vs. 6.933 million).
- For the week, “World News Tonight” (7.184 million, 949,000 and 630,000, respectively) defeated “CBS Evening News” (4.470 million, 684,000 and 454,000, respectively) by 2.714 million Total Viewers, by 265,000 Adults 25-54 and by 176,000 Adults 18-49. “World News Tonight” increased its Total Viewer gap week to week from the CBS program by 7% (2.714 million vs. 2.540 million).
NOTE: On Friday (9/20/24), “World News Tonight” was retitled to “WNT-ABC” and “CBS Evening News” was retitled to “CBS Evening Nws.” The retitled telecasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages. ABC’s and 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 senior executive producer of the broadcast.
EVENING NEWS (2023-2024 Season):
| TOTAL VIEWERS | ADULTS 25-54 | ADULTS 18-49 | HOUSEHOLDS | |
| ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT | 7,717,000 | 0.9/10; 1,072,000 | 0.6/9; 730,000 | 4.7/16 |
| NBC NIGHTLY NEWS | 6,437,000 | 0.8/9; 955,000 | 0.5/8; 648,000 | 3.9/13 |
| CBS EVENING NEWS | 4,651,000 | 0.5/6; 665,000 | 0.3/5; 450,000 | 2.8/9 |
EVENING NEWS (Week of Sept. 16, 2024):
| TOTAL VIEWERS | ADULTS 25-54 | ADULTS 18-49 | HOUSEHOLDS | |
| ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT | 7,184,000 | 0.8/10; 949,000 | 0.5/9; 630,000 | 4.4/16 |
| NBC NIGHTLY NEWS | 5,612,000 | 0.7/9; 826,000 | 0.4/8; 560,000 | 3.4/12 |
| CBS EVENING NEWS | 4,470,000 | 0.6/7; 684,000 | 0.3/6; 454,000 | 2.7/10 |
EVENING NEWS (3rd Quarter 2024):
| TOTAL VIEWERS | ADULTS 25-54 | ADULTS 18-49 | HOUSEHOLDS | |
| ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT | 7,305,000 | 0.8/10; 995,000 | 0.5/9; 678,000 | 4.4/16 |
| NBC NIGHTLY NEWS | 6,197,000 | 0.8/10; 961,000 | 0.5/9; 689,000 | 3.7/13 |
| CBS EVENING NEWS | 4,337,000 | 0.5/6; 608,000 | 0.3/6; 404,000 | 2.7/9 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 9/16/24), Previous Week (w/o 9/9/24) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 9/11/23). Most Current Data Stream: 2023-2024 Season (9/25/23 – 9/22/24) and 2022-2023 Season (9/19/22 – 9/24/23). L+7/Most Current – 3Q24: 7/1 – 9/22/24, 2Q24: 4/1 – 6/30/24 and 3Q23: 6/26 – 9/24/23.Nielsen ratings for ABC, NBC and CBS include additional airings in select markets. Beginning 8/31/20, national ratings also include Out of Home (OOH) viewing. Averages based on regular telecasts.
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ABC News Media Relations
Brooks Lancaster
brooks.lancaster@abc.com
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