Press release - Ratings

October 8, 2024

With More Than 7 Million Viewers and Largest Season Lead in 29 Years, ‘World News Tonight’ Is #1 Newscast Across All of Broadcast and Cable, Winning Across the Board in Total Viewers, Adults 25–54 and Adults 18–49

‘World News Tonight’ Grows Lead Over NBC by Double-Digits Week to Week in Key Demos and Year to Year in Total Viewers, Outdelivering NBC by 1.4 Million Viewers and CBS by 2.7 Million 

Season to Date, ‘World News Tonight’ Ranks #1 in Total Viewers for the 9th Year in a Row and #1 in Both Demos for 6th Year Straight With Double-Digit Margins Over NBC Compared to Same Time Last Season

ABC News*

“World News Tonight with David Muir” ranked as the No. 1 evening newscast in all of broadcast and cable in Total Viewers (7.068 million), Adults 25-54 (940) and Adults 18-49 (642,000) during the week of Sept. 30, 2024, based on Live + Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research.

  • “World News Tonight” outdelivered “NBC Nightly News” (5.681 million, 813,000 and 523,000, respectively) by 1.387 million Total Viewers, by 127,000 Adults 25-54 and by 119,000 Adults 18-49, respectively.
  • “World News Tonight” increased its lead over “NBC Nightly News” week to week in Adults 25-54 (+15% – 127,000 vs. 110,000) and Adults 18-49 (+16% – 119,000 vs. 103,000).
  • “World News Tonight” widened its margins versus the same week last year over “NBC Nightly News” in Total Viewer (+19% – 1.387 million vs. 1.168 million).
  • “World News Tonight” has won the last 303 of 306 weeks in Total Viewers and 231 of the last 236 in Adults 25-54.
  • Season to date, “World News Tonight” (7.408 million) is ranking No. 1 in Total Viewers for the 9th consecutive year, based on Most Current Data. “World News Tonight” is leading “NBC Nightly News” (5.894 million) by 1.514 million and “CBS Evening News” (4.527 million) by 2.881 million. In fact, “World News Tonight” is delivering the largest lead over “NBC Nightly News” in 29 years – since the 1994-1995 season.
  • “World News Tonight” is ranking No. 1 in Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 for the 6th straight season. “World News Tonight” (1.022 million and 703,000, respectively) is leading NBC (884,000 and 575,000, respectively), increasing its margins from the same point last season by double-digits in Adults 25-54 (+45% – 138,000 vs. 95,000) and Adults 18-49 (+41% – 128,000 vs. 91,000). In addition, “World News Tonight” is leading “CBS Evening News” (647,000 and 441,000, respectively) by 375,000 Adults 25-54 and by 262,000 Adults 18-49.
  • For the week, “World News Tonight” (7.068 million, 940,000 and 642,000, respectively) defeated “CBS Evening News” (4.341 million, 608,000 and 417,000, respectively) by 2.727 million Total Viewers, by 339,000 Adults 25-54 and by 225,000 Adults 18-49.  

NOTE: On Monday (9/30/24), “World News Tonight” was retitled to “WNT-ABC” due to “Monday Night Football.” On Tuesday (10/1/24), “World News Tonight” was retitled to “WNT-ABC,” “CBS Evening News” was retitled to “CBS Evening Nws,” and “NBC Nightly News” was retitled to “NBC Nitely News” due to the vice-presidential debate.  On Friday (10/4/24), “World News Tonight” was also retitled to “WNT-ABC.” The retitled telecasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages. ABC’s weekly averages are based on two days (Wednesday-Thursday), while CBS’ and NBC’s weekly averages are based on four days (Monday and Wednesday-Friday).

ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” airs 6:30-7:00 p.m. EDT on ABC.

EVENING NEWS (Week of Sept. 30, 2024):

TOTAL VIEWERS ADULTS 25-54 ADULTS 18-49 HOUSEHOLDS
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT 7,068,000            0.8/10; 940,000 0.5/9; 642,000 4.3/15
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS 5,681,000 0.7/8; 813,000 0.4/7; 523,000 3.5/12
CBS EVENING NEWS 4,341,000 0.5/6; 601,000 0.3/6; 417,000 2.7/ 9

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 9/30/24), Previous Week (w/o 9/23/24) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 10/2/23). Most Current Data Stream: 2024-2025 Season (9/23 – 10/6/24) and 2023-2024 Season (9/25 – 10/8/23). 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.

*COPYRIGHT ©2024 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All photography is copyrighted material and is for editorial use only. Images are not to be archived, altered, duplicated, resold, retransmitted or used for any other purposes without written permission of ABC. Images are distributed to the press to publicize current programming. Any other usage must be licensed.

ABC News Media Relations
Brooks Lancaster
brooks.lancaster@abc.com

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