Press release - Ratings

September 17, 2026

22 WEEKS AS #1 PROGRAM ON ALL OF TELEVISION - ‘ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT WITH DAVID MUIR’ IS THE #1 NEWSCAST IN TOTAL VIEWERS, ADULTS 25-54 AND ADULTS 18-49 - LEADING NBC BY 1.5 MILLION AND CBS BY 4.1 MILLION

‘WORLD NEWS TONIGHT’ GROWS YEAR TO YEAR IN TOTAL VIEWERS, ADULTS 25-54 AND ADULTS 18-49 FOR 10TH WEEK IN A ROW

‘WORLD NEWS TONIGHT’ IS DELIVERING LARGEST SEASON LEAD OVER NBC IN 31 YEARS AND CBS IN 34 YEARS, BIGGEST VIEWERSHIP IN 5 YEARS, SEASON TO DATE GROWTH ACROSS THE BOARD 

ABC News*

For the 22nd week in a row, “World News Tonight with David Muir” ranked as the No. 1 program in Total Viewers (8.020 million) on all of broadcast and cable (excluding sports) during the week of Sept. 7, 2026, based on Live+Same Day Big Data Plus Panel Program Ratings from Nielsen Media Research.

  • “World News Tonight with David Muir” stood as the No. 1 newscast in all of broadcast and cable in Total Viewers (8.020 million), Adults 25-54 (1.106 million) and Adults 18-49 (778,000).
  • “World News Tonight” beat “NBC Nightly News” (6.472 million, 1.006 million and 730,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+24%/+1.548 million), Adults 25-54 (+10%/+100,000) and Adults 18-49 (+7%/+48,000).
  • “World News Tonight” grew from the year-ago week in Total Viewers (+9%/+678,000 – 8.020 million vs. 7.342 million), Adults 25-54 (+13%/+128,000 – 1.106 million vs. 978,000) and Adults 18-49 (+15%/+101,000 – 778,000 vs. 677,000), posting year-to-year increases for the 10th week in a row.
  • “World News Tonight” (8.020 million, 1.106 million and 778,000, respectively) towered over “CBS Evening News” (3.893 million, 556,000 and 392,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+106%/+4.127 million), Adults 25-54 (+99%/+550,000) and Adults 18-49 (+98%/+386,000).
  • Season to date, “World News Tonight” is delivering across-the-board increases compared to the same point last season: Total Viewers (+6%/+469,000 – 8.348 million vs. 7.879 million), Adults 25-54 (+1%/+13,000 – 1.048 million vs. 1.035 million) and Adults 18-49 (+5%/+38,000 – 770,000 vs. 732,000), based on Most Current Big Data+Panel Ratings. In fact, “World News Tonight” is drawing its largest season viewership in 5 years — since the 2020-2021 season.
  • “World News Tonight” (8.348 million) is ranking No. 1 in Total Viewers for the 10th straight year, leading “NBC Nightly News” (6.539 million) by 1.809 million and “CBS Evening News” (4.041 million) by 4.307 million. In fact, “World News Tonight” is growing its Total Viewer lead over NBC compared to the same point last season (+9% — 1.809 million vs. 1.667 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.
  • “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” (1.048 million and 770,000, respectively) is leading NBC (947,000 and 667,000, respectively) by 101,000 Adults 25-54 and by 103,000 Adults 18-49. Additionally, “World News Tonight” is widening margins by double digits with “CBS Evening News” (524,000 and 382,000, respectively) in Adults 25-54 (+9% – 524,000 vs. 479,000) and Adults 18-49 (+12% – 388,000 vs. 346,000) versus the comparable weeks last season.

NOTE: On Monday (9/7/26), “World News Tonight” and “NBC Nightly News” were coded as specials due to Labor Day. On Wednesday (9/9/26) and Friday (9/11/26), “World News Tonight” was retitled to “WNT-ABC” and “NBC Nightly News” was retitled to “NBC Nitely News.” The specialed and retitled telecasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages. The weekly averages of “World News Tonight” and “NBC Nightly News” are based on two days (Tuesday and 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 Sept. 7, 2026)

TOTAL VIEWERS ADULTS 25-54 ADULTS 18-49
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT 8,020,000 1,106,000  778,000
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS 6,472,000 1,006,000 730,000
CBS EVENING NEWS 3,893,000 556,000 392,000

Source: Nielsen Big Data + Panel, L+SD, Week of 9/7/2026. Season to date: Most Current Data Stream: 2025-2026 Season (9/22/25 – 9/13/26) and 2024-2025 Season (9/23/24 – 9/14/25). 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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