WITH NEARLY 9 MILLION VIEWERS, ‘ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT WITH DAVID MUIR’ BEATS NBC BY 1.8 MILLION AND CBS BY 4.4 MILLION AND IS #1 ACROSS TOTAL VIEWERS, ADULTS 25-54 AND 18-49 — WITH LARGEST SEASON LEAD OVER NBC IN 31 YEARS

 

“World News Tonight with David Muir” ranked as the No. 1 newscast in all of broadcast and cable in Total Viewers (8.987 million), Adults 25-54 (1.150 million) and Adults 18-49 (856,000) during the week of Feb. 2, 2026, based on Live+Same Day Big Data Plus Panel Program Ratings from Nielsen Media Research.

• “World News Tonight” outdelivered “NBC Nightly News” (7.233 million, 1.100 million and 789,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+24%/+1.754 million), Adults 25-54 (+5%/+50,000) and Adults 18-49 (+8%/+67,000).
• “World News Tonight” scored its 2nd-best numbers of the season in both Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49, behind only its performance the previous week in both key Adult measures. In fact, “World News Tonight” turned in its 2nd-strongest numbers in 1 year — since weeks of 2/10/25 and 1/13/25, respectively.
• For the second week in a row, “World News Tonight” posted year-to-year gains across the board: Total Viewers (+7%/+550,000 – 8.987 million vs. 8.437 million), Adults 25-54 (+2%/+25,000 – 1.150 million vs. 1.125 million) and Adults 18-49 (+9%/+71,000 – 856,000 vs. 785,000).
• “World News Tonight” increased its lead year to year over “NBC Nightly News” in Total Viewers (+13% – 1.754 million vs. 1.546 million) by double digits for the 4th week in a row. In fact, “World News Tonight” widened its advantage over the NBC program in 7 of the last 8 weeks overall.
• “World News Tonight” (8.987 million, 1.150 million and 856,000, respectively) beat “CBS Evening News” (4.576 million, 579,000 and 426,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+96%/+4.411 million), Adults 25-54 (+99%/+571,000) and Adults 18-49 (+101%/+430,000).
• “World News Tonight” grew its margins week to week over “CBS Evening News” in Adults 25-54 (+2%– 571,000 vs. 559,000) and Adults 18-49 (+8% – 430,000 vs. 398,000) to its largest in more than 7 months — since w/o 6/30/25.
• “World News Tonight” grew its Total Viewer lead over the “CBS Evening News” year to year (+21% – 4.411 million vs. 3.660 million).
• Season to date, “World News Tonight” (8.193 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” (6.434 million) by 1.759 million and “CBS Evening News” (4.155 million) by 4.038 million. In fact, “World News Tonight” is growing its Total Viewer lead over NBC compared to the same point last season (+3% – 1.759 million vs. 1.708 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” (1.020 million and 734,000, respectively) is leading NBC (898,000 and 617,000, respectively) by 122,000 Adults 25-54 and by 117,000 Adults 18-49. Additionally, “World News Tonight” is widening margins with “CBS Evening News” (529,000 and 396,000, respectively) by double digits in Adults 25-54 (+13% – 491,000 vs. 434,000) and Adults 18-49 (+12% – 338,000 vs. 301,000) versus the comparable weeks last season.

NOTE: On Friday (2/6/26), “World News Tonight” was retitled to “WNT-ABC” and “CBS Evening News” was retitled to “CBS Evening Nws.” The retitled telecasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages. “World News Tonight” and “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. 2, 2026)

	TOTAL VIEWERS	ADULTS 25-54	ADULTS 18-49
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT	8,987,000	1,150,000	856,000
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS	7,233,000	1,100,000	789,000
CBS EVENING NEWS	4,576,000	579,000	426,000

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 2/2/26), Previous Week (w/o 1/26/26) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 2/3/25). Season to date: Most Current Data Stream: 2025-2026 Season (9/22/25 – 2/8/26) and 2024-2025 Season (9/23/24 – 2/9/25). 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.

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