Press release - Ratings

May 6, 2026

THE #1 PROGRAM ON ALL OF TELEVISION IS ‘ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT WITH DAVID MUIR’ — BEATING NBC BY 2.1 MILLION VIEWERS AND CBS BY 4.4 MILLION AND WINNING ALL DEMOS ACROSS THE BOARD

For 9th Consecutive Week, ‘World News Tonight’ Grows Year to Year Across the Board

‘World News Tonight’ Is Delivering Largest Season Viewership in 3 Years and Is #1 for 10th Year in a Row, With Biggest Margin Over NBC in 31 Years and CBS in at Least 34 Years

ABC News*

For the third week in a row, “World News Tonight with David Muir” stood as the No. 1 program in Total Viewers (8.300 million) on all of broadcast and cable (excluding sports) during the week of April 27, 2026, based on Live+Same Day Big Data Plus Panel Program Ratings from Nielsen Media Research.

  • “World News Tonight” ranked as the No. 1 newscast across broadcast and cable in Total Viewers (8.300 million), Adults 25-54 (1.004 million) and Adults 18-49 (754,000).
  • “World News Tonight” outperformed “NBC Nightly News” (6.231 million, 928,000 and 690,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+33%/+2.069 million), Adults 25-54 (+8%/+76,000) and Adults 18-49 (+9%/+64,000).
  • For the tenth straight week, “World News Tonight” built on its Total Viewer lead over “NBC Nightly News” on the same week last year (+44% – 2.069 million vs. 1.436 million) by double digits.
  • For the ninth week running, “World News Tonight” saw gains on the year-ago week in all key target demos: Total Viewers (+13%/+973,000 – 8.300 million vs. 7.327 million), Adults 25-54 (+5%/+52,000 –1.004 million vs. 952,000) and Adults 18-49(+10%/+67,000 – 754,000 vs. 687,000).
  • “World News Tonight” (8.300 million, 1.004 million and 754,000, respectively) outperformed “CBS Evening News” (3.862 million, 541,000 and 379,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+115%/+4.438 million), Adults 25-54 (+86%/+463,000) and Adults 18-49 (+99%/+375,000).
  • “World News Tonight” widened its lead over “CBS Evening News” versus the year-ago week in Total Viewers (+20% – 4.438 million vs. 3.691 million).
  • Season to date, “World News Tonight” (8.412 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” (6.564 million) by 1.848 million and “CBS Evening News” (4.106 million) by 4.306 million. In fact, “World News Tonight” is growing its Total Viewer lead over NBC compared to the same point last season (+11% – 1.848 million vs. 1.672 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 3 years, growing in Total Viewers compared to the same point last season (+4%/+288,000 – 8.412 million vs. 8.124 million) — since the 2022-2023 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” (1.054 million and 769,000, respectively) is leading NBC (942,000 and 654,000, respectively) by 112,000 Adults 25-54 and by 115,000 Adults 18-49. Additionally, “World News Tonight” is widening margins with “CBS Evening News” (519,000 and 386,000, respectively) by double digits in Adults 25-54 (+15% – 535,000 vs. 465,000) and Adults 18-49 (+14% – 383,000 vs. 337,000) versus the comparable weeks last season.

NOTE: On Friday (5/1/26), “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 for “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 April 27, 2026)

TOTAL VIEWERS      ADULTS 25-54            ADULTS 18-49
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT   8,300,000                      1,004,000                               754,000
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS 6,231,000 928,000 690,000
CBS EVENING NEWS 3,862,000 541,000 379,000

Source: Nielsen, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 National Live + Same Day Big Data Plus Panel Program Ratings. Current Week (w/o 4/27/26), Previous Week (w/o 4/20/26) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 4/28/25). Season to date: Most Current Data Stream: 2025-2026 Season (9/22/25 – 5/3/26) and 2024-2025 Season (9/23/24 – 5/4/25). Beginning 12/26/22, averages are based on Big Data Plus Panel ratings.  Season averages based on Big Data Plus Panel ratings start with the 2023-2024 season. Beginning 9/29/25, “World News Tonight” averages include airings on ABCNL. 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.

*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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