From Adweek · Mark Mwachiro · · 1m 40s
Nightly News wins the demo by 1,000 viewers
NBC edged ABC in the 25-54 race by the thinnest margin evening news has seen in a while, while CBS quietly grew on both counts.
In brief
NBC edged ABC in the 25-54 race by the thinnest margin evening news has seen in a while, while CBS quietly grew on both counts. ABC still has the biggest evening audience by 1.5 million, but NBC now matches it among 25-54 viewers, and every number here comes from a partial, asterisk-heavy week. Originally reported by…
A win by a thousand
For the week of August 31, NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas beat ABC World News Tonight in the Adults 25-54 demo. The gap: 1,000 viewers, 1.103 million to 1.102 million.
“A thousand additional demo viewers were all it took for Nightly News to slide past WNT”
Read the asterisks first
The three networks are not measured over the same days. ABC's average covers Monday to Wednesday, CBS covers Monday to Thursday, and NBC covers just Monday and Tuesday.
Retitled shows got cut
Several editions aired under altered titles, like WNT-ABC, CBS Evening Nws and NBC Nitely News, over the holiday stretch. Nielsen averages only regularly titled telecasts, so those were excluded.
ABC still owns total viewers
World News Tonight averaged 8.508 million total viewers, well ahead of the field, but slipped 3% in total and 10% in the demo from the prior week.
NBC climbs year over year
Nightly News drew 6.988 million total viewers for second place. Against the same week in 2025 it was up 24% in total viewers and 35% in the demo, the sharpest annual jump of the three.
CBS grew on both lines
CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil posted 4.037 million total viewers and 544,000 in the demo, up 3% and 2% week to week. It was the only newscast to gain in both measures.
“the only newscast with gains in both measured categories”
In short
ABC still has the biggest evening audience by 1.5 million, but NBC now matches it among 25-54 viewers, and every number here comes from a partial, asterisk-heavy week.
