For 12 Straight Weeks the #1 Program Across Broadcast and Cable Television Is “World News Tonight”

‘World News Tonight’ Ranks as the #1 Newscast in America Across All Key Demos for 21 Weeks Straight and Most-Watched in Total Viewers for 91 Weeks Overall

‘World News Tonight’ Is the Only Evening Newscast to Grow in Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 From Same Week Last Year

Anchor David Muir interviews Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his running mate Senator Kamala Harris in Wilmington, Delaware on Friday, August 21, 2020.

ABC News’ “World News Tonight with David Muir” ranked as the #1 program on all broadcast and cable television in the U.S. in Total Viewers (8.180 million) for the week of August 17, 2020, based on Live + Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research. In fact, “World News Tonight” finished as the top program in America for the past 12 weeks. In addition, “World News Tonight” owned the Top 5 telecasts of the week – Monday (8.439 million – No. 1), Wednesday (8.230 million – No. 2), Tuesday (8.190 million– No. 3), Thursday (8.112 million – No. 4) and Friday (7.928 million – No. 5).

Friday night’s broadcast of ‘World News Tonight” featured ABC News’ David Muir and Robin Roberts’ exclusive joint interviews with former Vice President Joe Biden and his running mate Senator Kamala Harris. The interviews made news on how they would handle COVID-19, President Trump’s handling of coronavirus and his attacks on them, Black Lives Matter, defunding the police, the possibility of serving more than one term, taxes and more.

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 the evening’s No. 1 newscast for 21 consecutive weeks in Total Viewers (8.180 million), Adults 25-54 (1.589 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.079 million). “World News Tonight” has won all 48 weeks of the season and the last 91 weeks overall in Total Viewers.

“World News Tonight” outperformed “NBC Nightly News” (6.835 million, 1.335 million and 898,000, respectively), increasing its lead from the previous week in Total Viewers (+6% - 1.345 million vs. 1.272 million), Adults 25-54 (+47% - 254,000 vs. 173,000) and Adults 18-49 (+28% - 181,000 vs. 141,000), turning in its largest margin of victory in both key Adults demos in 4 months – since w/o 4/13/20. “World News Tonight” also increased its lead year to year in Total Viewers (+57% - 1.345 million vs. 855,000) and Adults 18-49 (+262% - 181,000 vs. 50,000).

“World News Tonight” was up on the same week last year in Total Viewers (+35,000 - 8.180 million vs. 8.145 million) and Adults 25-54 (+36,000/+2% - 1.589 million vs. 1.533 million), standing as the only evening newscast to post gains in both measures.

Season to date, “World News Tonight” (9.426 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 substantially increasing its lead over “NBC Nightly News” (8.326 million) from last season (+66% - 1.100 million vs. 655,000) to its largest season lead in 25 years – since the 1994-1995 season. “World News Tonight” is beating “CBS Evening News” (5.900 million) by 3.526 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 (+95,000 - 1.889 million vs. 1.794 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 (+33,000 - 1.278 million vs. 1.245 million) for the first time in 24 years – since the 1995-1996 season.

In addition, “World News Tonight” is improving in Total Viewers (+794,000/+9% - 9.426 million vs. 8.632 million), Adults 25-54 (+157,000/+9% - 1.889 million vs. 1.732 million) and Adults 18-49 (+108,000/+9% - 1.278 million vs. 1.170 million), compared to the same point last season.

For the week, “World News Tonight” (8.180 million, 1.589 million and 1.079 million, respectively) defeated “CBS Evening News” (4.893 million, 856,000 and 589,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+3.287 million), Adults 25-54 (+733,000) and Adults 18-49 (+490,000).

NOTE: On Friday (8/21/20), “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 August 17, 2020):

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 8/17/20), Previous Week (w/o 8/10/20) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 8/19/19). Most Current: 2019-2020 Season (9/23/19-8/23/20) and 2018-2019 Season (9/24/18-8/25/19). 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 8/17/20 based on Total Day.



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