RATINGS: The No. 1 Program In The US For A Month Straight Is WORLD NEWS TONIGHT WITH DAVID MUIR

The No. 1 program in the U.S. for a month straight is ABC News' "World News Tonight with David Muir" - capturing the top spot across broadcast and cable again for the week of May 11, 2020, based on Live + Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research. "World News Tonight" owned the Top 3 telecasts and 5 of the Top 6 overall in Total Viewers with its Monday (10.408 million - No. 1), Wednesday (10.131 million - No. 2), Tuesday (10.060 million - No. 3), Thursday (9.934 million - No. 5) and Friday (9.415 million - No. 6) airings, respectively.  In addition, "World News Tonight" placed 4 telecasts in the Top 10 among Adults 25-54 and 3 telecasts in Top 10 in Adults 18-49 for the week. All week, "World News Tonight" dedicated newscasts to coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak. 

 

For the first time in 24 years, "World News Tonight" is America's No. 1 newscast in Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 season to date -since the 1995-1996 season.

 

"World News Tonight" stood as the No. 1 evening newscast in America for the 7th week in a row in Total Viewers (9.990 million), Adults 25-54 (1.966 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.329 million) for the week. "World News Tonight" has won all 34 weeks of the season and the last 77 weeks overall. "World News Tonight" outperformed "NBC Nightly News" (8.786 million, 1.817 million and 1.267 million, respectively), widening its margin of victory year to year across the board: Total Viewers (+29% - 1.204 million vs. 934,000), Adults 25-54 (+2383% - 149,000 vs. 6,000) and Adults 18-49 (+786% - 62,000 vs. 7,000). 

  

"World News Tonight" built on the same week last year by double digits in  Total Viewers (+1.919 million/+24% - 9.990 million vs. 8.071 million), Adults 25-54 (+424,000/+27% - 1.966 million vs. 1.542 million) and Adults 18-49 (+299,000/+29% - 1.329 million vs. 1.030 million) for the last 10 weeks.

 

Season to date, "World News Tonight" (9.644 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 more than doubling its lead over "NBC Nightly News" (8.582 million) from last season (+102% - 1.062 million vs. 525,000) to its largest season lead in 24 years-since the 1995-1996 season. "World News Tonight" is beating "CBS Evening News" (6.075 million) by 3.569 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).

 

In addition, World News Tonight" is improving in Total Viewers (+803,000/+9% - 9.644 million vs. 8.841 million), Adults 25-54 (+142,000/+8% - 1.958 million vs. 1.816 million) and Adults 18-49 (+115,000/+9% - 1.333 million vs. 1.218 million), compared to the same point last season.  In fact, "World News Tonight" is seeing its most-watched season in 16 years and strongest Adults 25-54 performance in 5 years - since the 2003-2004 and the 2014-2015 seasons, respectively.

 

"World News Tonight" is also No. 1 for the season in Adults 25-54, leading NBC by its largest news demo margin (+71,000 - 1.958 million vs. 1.816 million) in 24 years and taking the top spot for the first time at this point of a season in 12 years-since the 1995-1996 and the 2007-2008 seasons, respectively. "World News Tonight" is also leading NBC in Adults 18-49 (+13,000 - 1.333 million vs. 1.320 million) for the first time in 24 years-since the 1995-1996 season.

  

For the week, "World News Tonight" (9.990 million, 1.966 million and 1.329 million, respectively) beat "CBS Evening News" (6.158 million, 1.070 million and 735,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+3.832 million), Adults 25-54 (+896,000) and Adults 18-49 (+594,000).

 

NOTE: On Friday (5/15/20), "CBS Evening News" was retitled to "CBS Evening Nws."  The telecast is excluded from THE WEEKLY and season averages.  CBS' weekly averages are based on four days (Monday-Thursday). 

 

ABC "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 May 11, 2020):

                   

	TOTAL VIEWERS	ADULTS 25-54	ADULTS 18-49	HOUSEHOLDS
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT	9,990,000	1.6/ 9; 1,966,000	1.0/8; 1,329,000	6.4/15
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS	8,786,000	1.5/ 8; 1,817,000	1.0/7 ; 1,267,000	5.5/13
CBS EVENING NEWS	6,158,000	0.9/ 5; 1,070,000	0.6/4; 735,000	4.1/ 9

 

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 5/11/20), Previous Week (w/o 5/4/20) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 5/13/19). Most Current: 2019-2020 Season (9/23/19-5/17/20) and 2018-2019 Season (9/24/18-5/19/19).  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 5/11/20 based on Total Day.