Press release - Ratings
August 5, 2025
‘ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT WITH DAVID MUIR’ DELIVERS LARGEST LEAD OVER NBC IN 4+ YEARS
For 12 Weeks in a Row, ‘World News Tonight’ Is the #1 Program on Broadcast and Cable TV and Is America’s Most-Watched Newscast Across Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49, Outdelivering NBC by 1.8+ Million Viewers and CBS by 3.6+ Million Viewers
‘World News Tonight’ Is the Only Evening Newscast To Grow Year to Year in Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 and Improves Week to Week Across the Board
‘World News Tonight’ Is the Most-Watched Newscast in Total Viewers for 9th Year Straight, Leading NBC by Largest Margin in 30 Years and CBS in 4 Years, and Is the #1 Newscast in Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 for the 6th Season in a Row, Outdelivering NBC and CBS by Double Digits
“World News Tonight with David Muir” stood as the No. 1 program in Total Viewers (7.424 million) on all of broadcast and cable during the week of July 28, 2025, based on Live+Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research. “World News Tonight” has been the No. 1 most-watched program on television for 12 consecutive weeks (with and without sports).
- “World News Tonight” ranked as the No. 1 newscast across broadcast and cable in Total Viewers (7.424 million), Adults 25-54 (1.025 million) and Adults 18-49 (717,000).
- “World News Tonight” outdelivered “NBC Nightly News” (5.576 million, 807,000 and 514,000, respectively) by 1.848 million Total Viewers, by 218,000 Adults 25-54 and by 203,000 Adults 18-49, posting its largest overall viewer lead in over 4 years — since w/o 7/5/21.
- “World News Tonight” improved on the previous week in Total Viewers (+2%/+152,000 – 7.424 million vs. 7.272 million), Adults 25-54 (+2%/+25,000 – 1.025 million vs. 1.000 million) and Adults 18-49 (+4%/+28,000 – 717,000 vs. 689,000). “World News Tonight” drew its largest overall audience in 6 weeks and saw its best Adults 18-49 performance in 4 months — since weeks of 6/16/25 and 3/31/25, respectively.
- “World News Tonight” turned in gains on the same week last year in Adults 25-54 (+6%/+54,000 – 1.025 million vs. 797,000) and Adults 18-49 (+5%/+34,000 – 717,000 vs. 683,000), standing as the only evening newscast to grow year to year in both key Adult demos.
- “World News Tonight” (7.424 million, 1.025 million and 717,000, respectively) nearly doubled the performance of “CBS Evening News” (3.822 million, 553,000 and 376,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+94%/+3.602 million), Adults 25-54 (+85%/+218,000) and Adults 18-49 (+91%/+203,000).
- Season to date, “World News Tonight” (7.679 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” (6.082 million) by 1.597 million and “CBS Evening News” (4.232 million) by 3.447 million. In fact, “World News Tonight” is growing its Total Viewer lead over NBC compared to the same point last season (+23% – 1.597 million vs. 1.297 million) to its largest in 30 years — since the 1994-1995 season. In addition, “World News Tonight” is increasing its Total Viewer season margin versus “CBS Evening News” by 12% (3.447 million vs. 3.091 million) to its largest in 4 years — since the 2020-2021 season.
- “World News Tonight” is ranking No. 1 in Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 for the 6th straight season. Season to date, “World News Tonight” (1.078 million and 745,000, respectively) is leading NBC (891,000 and 589,000, respectively), increasing its margins from the same point last season in Adults 25-54 (+44% – 187,000 vs. 130,000) and Adults 18-49 (+66% – 156,000 vs. 94,000).
- In addition, “World News Tonight” is widening margins with “CBS Evening News” (597,000 and 408,000, respectively) by double digits in Adults 25-54 (+16% – 481,000 vs. 415,000) and Adults 18-49 (+18% – 337,000 vs. 286,000).
NOTE: On Thursday (7/31/25), “NBC Nightly News” was retitled to “NBC Nitely News” due to NFL preseason football. The retitled telecast is excluded from the weekly and season averages. NBC’s averages are based on four days (Monday-Wednesday and Friday).
ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” airs 6:30-7:00 p.m. EDT on ABC. Chris Dinan is the executive producer of the broadcast.
EVENING NEWS (Week of July 28, 2025)
| TOTAL VIEWERS | ADULTS 25-54 | ADULTS 18-49 | HOUSEHOLDS | |
| ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT | 7,424,000 | 0.8/13; 1,025,000 | 0.5/12; 717,000 | 4.3/18 |
| NBC NIGHTLY NEWS | 5,576,000 | 0.7/10; 807,000 | 0.4/9; 514,000 | 3.2/14 |
| CBS EVENING NEWS | 3,822,000 | 0.4/ 7 ; 553,000 | 0.3/ 6; 376,000 | 2.3/9 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 7/28/25), Previous Week (w/o 7/21/25) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 7/29/24). Most Current Data Stream: 2024-2025 Season (9/23/24 – 8/3/25) and 2023-2024 Season (9/25/23 – 8/4/24). 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
Van Scott
van.scott@abc.com
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