Press release - Ratings

August 5, 2026

FOR 16th STRAIGHT WEEK, ‘ABC NEWS WORLD TONIGHT WITH DAVID MUIR’ IS THE #1 PROGRAM ON ALL TV WITH 8.2 MILLION VIEWERS AND THE #1 NEWSCAST IN TOTAL VIEWERS, ADULTS 25-54 AND ADULTS 18-49, LEADING NBC BY 1.5 MILLION AND CBS BY 4 MILLION

‘World News Tonight’ Is #1 for 10th Year in a Row, With Largest Margin Over NBC in 31 Years and CBS in 34 Years and Highest Season Viewership in 5 Years

ABC News*

For the 16th week in a row, “World News Tonight with David Muir” stood as the No. 1 program in Total Viewers (8.168 million) on all of broadcast and cable (excluding sports) during the week of July 27, 2026, based on Live+Same Day Big Data Plus Panel Program Ratings from Nielsen Media Research.

  • “World News Tonight with David Muir” ranked as the No. 1 newscast in all of broadcast and cable in Total Viewers (8.168 million), Adults 25-54 (1.078 million) and Adults 18-49 (822,000).
  • “World News Tonight” outperformed “NBC Nightly News” (6.620 million, 948,000 and 708,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+23%/+1.548 million), Adults 25-54 (+14%/+130,000) and Adults 18-49 (+16%/+114,000).
  • “World News Tonight” (8.168 million, 1.078 million and 822,000, respectively) beat “CBS Evening News” (4.127 million, 570,000 and 401,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+98%/+4.041 million), Adults 25-54 (+89%/+508,000) and Adults 18-49 (+105%/+421,000).
  • Season to date, “World News Tonight” (8.327 million) is ranking No. 1 in Total Viewers for the 10th straight year, based on Most Current Big Data+Panel Ratings. “World News Tonight” is leading “NBC Nightly News” (6.520 million) by 1.807 million and “CBS Evening News” (4.052 million) by 4.275 million. In fact, “World News Tonight” is growing its Total Viewer lead over NBC compared to the same point last season (+7% — 1.807 million vs. 1.692 million) to its largest in 31 years — since the 1994-1995 season. “World News Tonight” is also delivering its largest Total Viewer season lead over the CBS program in at least 34 years — since at least the 1991-1992 season; the Nielsen electronic database started in September 1991. In addition, “World News Tonight” is delivering its largest season viewership in 5 years, growing in Total Viewers compared to the same point last season (+5%/+368,000 – 8.327 million vs. 7.959 million) — since the 2020-2021 season.
  • “World News Tonight” is ranking No. 1 in Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 for the 7th season in a row. “World News Tonight” (1.038 million and 752,000, respectively) is leading NBC (938,000 and 659,000, respectively) by 100,000 Adults 25-54 and by 103,000 Adults 18-49. Additionally, “World News Tonight” is widening margins with “CBS Evening News” (524,000 and 382,000, respectively) in Adults 25-54 (+6% – 514,000 vs. 487,000) and Adults 18-49 (+7% – 380,000 vs. 356,000) versus the comparable weeks last season.

NOTE: On Friday (7/31/26), “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.” The retitled telecasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages. The weekly averages of “World News Tonight,” “CBS Evening News” and “NBC Nightly News” are based on four days (Monday-Thursday).

ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” airs 6:30-7:00 p.m. ET on ABC. Chris Dinan is the executive producer of the broadcast.

EVENING NEWS (Week of July 27, 2026)

TOTAL VIEWERS ADULTS 25-54 ADULTS 18-49
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT 8,168,000 1,078,000    822,000
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS 6,620,000 948,000 708,000
CBS EVENING NEWS 4,127,000 570,000 401,000

Source: Nielsen Big Data + Panel, L+SD, Week of 7/27/2026. Season to date: Most Current Data Stream: 2025-2026 Season (9/22/25 – 8/2/26) and 2024-2025 Season (9/23/24 – 8/3/25). Average audience based on regularly titled telecasts only.

*COPYRIGHT ©2026 American Broadcasting Companies, 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 News. Images are distributed to the press to publicize current programming. Any other usage must be licensed.

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