Press release - Ratings
February 18, 2026
WITH 8.7 MILLION VIEWERS, ‘ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT WITH DAVID MUIR’ IS AMERICA’S #1 NEWSCAST IN TOTAL VIEWERS, DELIVERING ITS NINTH CONSECUTIVE OLYMPIC WEEK WIN OVER NBC
‘World News Tonight’ Beats NBC by 860,000 Post-Super Bowl LX Week and First Week of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics and More Than Doubles Its Lead Over CBS by Nearly 4.5 Million

“World News Tonight with David Muir” ranked as the No. 1 newscast in all of broadcast and cable in Total Viewers (8.657 million) during the week of Feb. 9, 2026, based on Live+Same Day Big Data Plus Panel Program Ratings from Nielsen Media Research. “World News Tonight” beat “NBC Nightly News” (7.797 million) by 860,000 post-Super Bowl LX Week and during the first week of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
- “World News Tonight” victory represented its 9th consecutive Olympic week win, including both weeks of the 2024 Paris Olympics, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
- “World News Tonight” increased in Total Viewers versus the first week of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics (+2%/+184,000 – 8.657 million vs. 8.473 million) and the first week of the 2024 Paris Olympics (+9%/+741,000 – 8.657 million vs. 7.916 million). In fact, “World News Tonight” scored its most-watched week during an Olympics in 8 years — since w/o 2/19/18, the second week of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
- Compared to first week of the 2024 Paris Olympics, “World News Tonight” increased its Total Viewer lead over “NBC Nightly News” in Total Viewers (+1,358% – 860,000 vs. 59,000), while slashing its margins by double digits in both Adults 25-54 (-68% – 135,000 vs. 418,000) and Adults 18-49 (-79% – 94,000 vs. 443,000).
- For the third straight week, “World News Tonight” posted gains year to year in Total Viewers (+2%/+131,000 – 8.657 million vs. 8.526 million) and Adults 18-49 (+2%/+20,000 – 823,000 vs. 803,000).
- “World News Tonight” (8.657 million, 1.105 million and 823,000, respectively) more than doubled its performance over “CBS Evening News” (4.163 million, 458,000 and 364,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+108%/+4.494 million), Adults 25-54 (+141%/+647,000) and Adults 18-49 (+126%/+459,000).
- “World News Tonight” grew its margins week to week over “CBS Evening News” in Total Viewers (+2% – 4.494 million vs. 4.411 million), Adults 25-54 (+13%– 647,000 vs. 571,000) and Adults 18-49 (+7% – 459,000 vs. 430,000), delivering its largest news demo margin in over 1 year — since w/o 1/6/25.
- “World News Tonight” increased its lead over the “CBS Evening News” by double digits on the same week last year in Total Viewers (+15% – 4.494 million vs. 3.916 million), Adults 25-54 (+16% – 647,000 vs. 560,000) and Adults 18-49 (+13% – 459,000 vs. 406,000)
- Season to date, “World News Tonight” (8.232 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” (6.513 million) by 1.719 million and “CBS Evening News” (4.157 million) by 4.075 million. In fact, “World News Tonight” is growing its Total Viewer lead over NBC compared to the same point last season (+1% – 1.719 million vs. 1.706 million) to its largest in 31 years — since the 1994-1995 season. In addition, “World News Tonight” is 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” (1.027 million and 742,000, respectively) is leading NBC (917,000 and 634,000, respectively) by 110,000 Adults 25-54 and by 108,000 Adults 18-49. Additionally, “World News Tonight” is widening margins with “CBS Evening News” (526,000 and 395,000, respectively) by double digits in Adults 25-54 (+13% – 501,000 vs. 442,000) and Adults 18-49 (+13% – 347,000 vs. 308,000) versus the comparable weeks last season.
NOTE: On Friday (2/13/26), “CBS Evening News” was retitled to “CBS Evening Nws.” The retitled telecasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages. “CBS Evening News” weekly averages 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 Feb. 9, 2026)
| TOTAL VIEWERS | ADULTS 25-54 | ADULTS 18-49 | |
| ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT | 8,657,000 | 1,105,000 | 823,000 |
| NBC NIGHTLY NEWS | 7,797,000 | 1,240,000 | 917,000 |
| CBS EVENING NEWS | 4,163,000 | 458,000 | 364,000 |
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 2/9/26), Previous Week (w/o 2/2/26) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 2/3/25). Season to date: Most Current Data Stream: 2025-2026 Season (9/22/25 – 2/15/26) and 2024-2025 Season (9/23/24 – 2/16/25). Week 1 of 2024 Summer Olympics (w/o 7/29/24) and Week 1 of 2022 Winter Olympics (w/o 2/7/22). 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.
Media Contacts
You must be logged in to view this content. Please log in or create an account.