Evening News Ratings

“The CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley,” now in its eighth month, continues to add viewers: +6% compared to the same week last year while “World News” is down -7% and “Nightly News” is down -6% in Total Viewers. Pelley is still running third, trailing “World News with Diane Sawyer” by 1.5 million viewers, which is one million behind “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.”

Tuesday’s “World News” is left out of the average, due to the “State of the Union” address. “Nightly News” and “Evening News” are based on 5 days.

Numbers for the week of January 23, 2012:

	NBC	ABC	CBS
• Total Viewers:	9,259,000	8,228,000	6,689,000
• A25-54:	2,567,000	2,206,000	2,031,000

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“The CBS Evening News,” 7 months into Scott Pelley‘s run as anchor, is in its closest competitive position with ABC’s “World News” in five years, since the week of Sept. 25, 2006. The perennially third place “Evening News” overtook #2 “World News” in younger viewers last week and in Total Viewers, Pelley’s broadcast, while still third, is closing the gap with #2 “World News with Diane Sawyer,” last week separated by 1.06 million viewers.

Last week saw the best Total Viewer delivery for CBS since the week of January 26, 2009, the week after Pres. Obama’s inauguration.

“NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” remains a strong #1 with 1.8 million more viewers than “World News.”

The bright spot for the Sawyer’s newscast: season-to-date the show has closed the A25-54 demo gap with “Nightly” to the smallest margin in 3 years.

All three shows were up week-to-week. But only “Evening News” was up year-over-year in both Total Viewers and younger viewers.

Numbers for the week of January 16, 2012:

	NBC	ABC	CBS
• Total Viewers:	10,249,000	8,449,000	7,394,000
• A25-54:	2,861,000	2,261,000	2,287,000

“NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” had a nearly 1 million Total Viewer lead last week on #2 “World News with Diane Sawyer,” which had more than a million more viewers than #3 “CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley.” But only Pelly’s broadcast held steady compared to the same week in 2011: -1% in Total Viewers and younger viewers.

In Total Viewers “Nightly” was down -12% and “World News” down -9% vs. the same week last year. In A25-54 viewers, “Nightly” was down -20% and “World News” was down -16%. Viewers flocked to the evening newscasts during the week of Jan. 10, 2011 following the tragedy in Tucson two days earlier.

Numbers for the week of January 9, 2012:

	NBC	ABC	CBS
• Total Viewers:	9,261,000	8,292,000	7,010,000
• A25-54:	2,529,000	2,177,000	2,118,000

“NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” wins the first week of 2012. But the broadcast lost a million viewers compared to the same week last year but held a million viewer lead over “World News with Diane Sawyer,” also down -450,000 viewers vs. last year.

Compared to the same week last year only the “CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley” was up in both Total Viewers and younger viewers: +5% in both measurements. #3 “Evening News” came within 89,000 viewers of #2 “World News” in the younger demo, while the ABC broadcast cut its gaps with #1 “Nightly News” -37% in Total Viewers and -23% in younger viewers. On Monday “World News” topped “Nightly News” by +560,000 viewers. ABC stations had the benefit of the Outback Bowl, which ended at 5:15pmET, as the lead-in.

“Nightly” and “World News” are based on 5-days while “Evening News” is based on a 4-day average (Tuesday-Friday).

Numbers for the week of January 2, 2012:

	NBC	ABC	CBS
• Total Viewers:	8,900,000	7,970,000	6,646,000
• A25-54:	2,564,000	2,100,000	2,011,000

“NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” ended 2011 the way it began: as the #1 evening newscasts in Total Viewers and A25-54 viewers.

“Nightly” kept a +700,000 lead on #2 ABC’s “World News with Diane Sawyer” which continues to cut its margins with the NBC program. Compared to the same week last year all three shows were down in all measurements, due to a news-filled final week of 2010 which included a blizzard.

“Nightly” and “Evening News” are based on 4-day averages (Tuesday-Friday), while “World News” is based on a 3-day average (Tuesday-Thursday).

Numbers for the week of December 26, 2011:

	NBC	ABC	CBS
• Total Viewers:	8,706,000	7,956,000	6,159,000
• A25-54:	2,356,000	2,154,000	1,805,000

“NBC Nightly News” was the top network evening news program for the week of December 19-23 in both total viewers and adults 25-54, though “ABC World News” came within 100,000 viewers in the demo.

“Nightly” was the only evening news program to be down in both total and demo viewers compared to the same week last year. “World News” was up in both categories, while CBS’ “Evening News” was up slightly in total viewers, and down in the demo.

Note: ABC’s ratings are based on four days due to the Christmas holiday, with Friday excluded. NBC and CBS’ ratings are based on five days.

Numbers for the week of December 19, 2011:

	NBC	ABC	CBS
• Total Viewers:	8,641,000	8,182,000	6,428,000
• A25-54:	2,322,000	2,235,000	1,816,000

“NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” makes it 165 weeks in a row at #1, topping #2 “World News with Diane Sawyer” by nearly one million viewers.

For the third week in a row, “World News” narrowed its week-to-week gaps with “Nightly” in both Total Viewers and A25-54 viewers.

“CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley” placed third, but for the second week in a row, it was the only newscast to be up in both Total Viewers and A25-54 viewers year-over-year.

Numbers for the week of December 12, 2011:

	NBC	ABC	CBS
• Total Viewers:	8,754,000	7,784,000	6,303,000
• A25-54:	2,304,000	2,017,000	1,800,000

As usual, “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” was the top network evening newscast for the week of December 5. The program drew 1.35 million more viewers than its nearest competitor “ABC World News with Diane Sawyer,” though the ABC broadcast was closer to NBC than it was a year ago this week.

“CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley” placed third, but it was the only newscast to be up in both total and demo viewers year over year and week to week. Both ABC and NBC were down compared to last year.

Numbers for the week of December 5, 2011:

	NBC	ABC	CBS
• Total Viewers:	9,227,000	7,878,000	6,705,000
• A25-54:	2,508,000	2,107,000	1,964,000

“NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” wins the week with a 1.6 million viewer lead on #2 ABC’s “World News with Diane Sawyer.”

Compared to the same week last year both “World News” and “Evening News” are up in both Total Viewers and A25-54 viewers while “Nightly News” is down in both (maybe it was that fire alarm?). CBS was up +6% and ABC was up +2% in Total Viewers. In younger viewers ABC was up +4% and CBS was up +2%.

Numbers for the week of November 28, 2011:

	NBC	ABC	CBS
• Total Viewers:	9,744,000	8,149,000	6,572,000
• A25-54:	2,683,000	2,277,000	1,833,000

The Thanksgiving holiday resulted in a shortened ratings week for the evening newscasts November 21-27. As usual “NBC Nightly News” won the week, followed by “ABC World News” and the “CBS Evening News.”

Those numbers are based on a three-day total for NBC (Mon.,Tues., Fri.) and ABC (Mon.-Wed.), and a two-day total for CBS (Mon.-Tues.).

Compared to the same week last year, NBC was down slightly in both total and demo viewers, ABC was barely up in total viewers and more or less flat in the demo, and CBS was up in total viewers, and flat in the demo.

Numbers for the week of November 21, 2011:

	NBC	ABC	CBS
• Total Viewers:	9,922,000	8,256,000	7,062,000
• A25-54:	2,224,000	2,224,000	2,087,000

 

 

 

As for November sweeps:
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