WITH NEARLY 8.3 MILLION VIEWERS, ‘ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT WITH DAVID MUIR’ SEES LARGEST VIEWERSHIP IN OVER 9 MONTHS, BEATING NBC BY 1.6+ MILLION VIEWERS AND WINNING ACROSS THE BOARD IN TOTAL VIEWERS, ADULTS 25-54 AND ADULTS 18-49

 

With largest viewership in over 9 months, “World News Tonight with David Muir” ranked as the No. 1 newscast in all of broadcast and cable in Total Viewers (8.278 million), Adults 25-54 (1.061 million) and Adults 18-49 (793,000) during the week of Dec. 1, 2025, based on Live+Same Day Big Data Plus Panel Program Ratings from Nielsen Media Research.

• “World News Tonight” outdelivered “NBC Nightly News” (6.621 million, 900,000 and 617,000, respectively) by 1.657 million Total Viewers, by 161,000 Adults 25-54 and by 176,000 Adults 18-49.
• “World News Tonight” increased its lead over “NBC Nightly News” compared to the previous week in Adults 25-54 (+44% – 161.000 vs. 112,000) and Adults 18-49 (+129% – 176,000 vs. 77,000). “World News Tonight” saw its largest Adults 25-54 margin in 7 weeks and best Adults 18-49 advantage in 4 months — since weeks of 10/13/25 and 7/21/25, respectively.
• “World News Tonight” increased from the previous week in Total Viewers (8.278 million vs. 8.273 million), Adults 25-54 (+3%/+31,000 – 1.061 million vs. 1.030 million) and Adults 18-49 (793,000 vs. 790,000), hitting season highs and standing as the only evening newscast to grow across the board. In fact, “World News Tonight” turned in its strongest numbers in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49 in over 9 months and its strongest performance in Adults 25-54 in 5 months — since weeks of 2/17/25, 2/24/25 and 6/23/25.
• “World News Tonight” (8.278 million, 1.061 million and 793,000, respectively) beat “CBS Evening News” (4.361 million, 553,000 and 421,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+90%/+3.917 million), Adults 25-54 (+92%/+508,000) and Adults 18-49 (+88%/+372,000).
• Season to date, “World News Tonight” (7.795 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” (6.164 million) by 1.631 million and “CBS Evening News” (4.003 million) by 3.792 million. 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” (954,000 and 680,000, respectively) is leading NBC (845,000 and 572,000, respectively) by 109,000 Adults 25-54 and by 108,000 Adults 18-49. Additionally, “World News Tonight” is widening margins with “CBS Evening News” (489,000 and 359,000, respectively) by double digits in Adults 25-54 (+22% – 465,000 vs. 381,000) and Adults 18-49 (+28% – 321,000 vs. 250,000) versus the comparable weeks last season.

NOTE: On Friday (12/5/25), “World News Tonight” was retitled to “WNT-ABC” because of college football. The retitled telecast is excluded from the weekly and season averages. “World News Tonight”’s season 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 Dec. 1, 2025)

	TOTAL VIEWERS	ADULTS 25-54	ADULTS 18-49
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT	8,278,000	1,061,000	793,000
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS	6,621,000	900,000	617,000
CBS EVENING NEWS	4,361,000	553,000	421,000

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 12/1/25), Previous Week (w/o 11/24/25) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 12/2/24). Season to date: Most Current Data Stream: 2025-2026 Season (9/22 – 12/7/25) and 2024-2025 Season (9/23 – 12/8/24). Beginning 12/26/22, averages are based on Big Data Plus Panel ratings.

*COPYRIGHT ©2025 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.