Evening News Ratings

A week after two evening newscasts set all-time lows, the big three broadcasters bounced back during a big news week that included Iran, the Mark Sanford affair and the death of Michael Jackson. NBC Nightly News won the week averaging 8.4 million Total Viewers and topping 10 million on Thursday night with the Jackson news. ABC World News was just shy of 7 million, and the CBS Evening News brought in 5.6 million. All three shows gained 500k+ viewers from the week prior. World News was preempted on KABC in Los Angeles last Thursday due to the Jackson story. Nightly and Evening News did air in LA that night. Los Angeles represents about 4.94% of the national audience.

Total Viewers: NBC: 8,379,000 / ABC: 6,994,000 / CBS: 5,566,000

25-54 rating: NBC: 2.1 / ABC: 1.6 / CBS: 1.3

The week of June 15, 2009 will go down as the lowest-rated for two of the three network evening newscasts as far back as the records go - the 1991-92 season. The CBS Evening News dipped below 5m Total Viewers for the first time and ABC World News was below 6.5m - a loss of a half million viewers from the prior week. It should be noted the anchors of both broadcasts, Katie Couric and Charles Gibson, were on vacation last week.

NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams won the week with a 3-day (Mon-Wed) average, but also lost more than half a million viewers from the week prior.

Total Viewers: NBC: 7,750,000 / ABC: 6,420,000 / CBS: 4,890,000

25-54 demo: NBC: 2,300,000 / ABC: 1,770,000 / CBS: 1,420,000

continued...

Breaking: TVNewser has learned the CBS Evening News has once again set an all-time low last week with 4.89 million Total Viewers and 1.42 million A25-54 viewers. But it was also the lowest (since records began in the 1991-'92 season) for ABC's World News with Charles Gibson. The Gibson program drew 6.42 million Total Viewers and 1.77 million A25-54 viewers.

Both CBS's Katie Couric and ABC's Charlie Gibson were off last week.

More details to come...

> Update: Insiders tell us at least one network is looking into the continued impact of the digital TV transition which occurred June 12.

> Update (2): NBC averaged 7.75m Total Viewers Mon-Wed but on Thursday and Friday gave their program a different Nielsen code -- "Nitely News." (The correct spelling is "Nightly News"). This is despite the fact that the network had regular coverage on those days. We're trying to determine if the U.S. Open Golf Championship had something to do with the coding change. Had Thursday and Friday been included, the average would have been lower. On Friday "Nightly" averaged 6.29m Total Viewers.

> Update (3): An NBC insider tells us, even though the broadcast had full national coverage, the U.S. Open tends to affect viewership so the Thursday and Friday shows were not in the average. NBC says this is normal procedure.

> More: Evening News Ratings: June 15, 2009

ABC has worked out their issue with Nielsen concerning Friday's World News ratings, and the post yesterday has been updated.

The reason for the initial incorrect figure: Some ABC affiliates switched from analog to digital before the deadline and their viewership was not credited properly.

Check it out...

Updated Wednesday at NoonET: ABC's new average has been calculated.

NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams was the top-rated evening newscast last week, for the 35th consecutive time in Total Viewers (and 29th in the A25-54 demo).

NBC's ratings are based on a three-day average due to the NHL Finals. ABC's are based on a two-day average due to the NBA Finals and the exclusion of Friday's ratings, since ABC has asked Nielsen to investigate the low numbers.

Nielsen reported ABC had 4,090,000 Total Viewers on Friday, a drop of more than three million from the season average.

All broadcasts grew week-to-week in Total Viewers (if ABC's Friday is excluded [updated &mash; ABC did not grow week-to-week]), while just NBC grew in the demo.

Total Viewers: NBC: 8,270,000 / ABC: 6,990,000 / CBS: 5,400,000

25-54 demo: NBC: 2,410,000 / ABC: 1,870,000 / CBS: 1,530,000

NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams was the #1 evening newscast again last week with a more than 800,000 viewer lead over #2 World News with Charles Gibson. And with an average of 5.18M Total Viewers, the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric had its lowest viewership yet. In fact, it's the lowest viewership since at least the 1991/92 season, as far back as Nielsen records track.

Nightly and World News were up week-to-week in Total Viewers and the demo. Evening News was down in both measurements.

(Ratings from Thursday for "World News" are taken out of the average since the broadcast experienced only 83% coverage due to the NBA finals.)

Total Viewers: NBC: 7,960,000 / ABC: 7,150,000 / CBS: 5,180,000

25-54 demo: NBC: 2,380,000 / ABC: 2,030,000 / CBS: 1,590,000

• Earlier / April 2008: CBS Evening News' previous low.

NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams was the top-rated evening newscast last week in both Total Viewers and the A25-54 demo.

Week-to-week, NBC and ABC grew in Total Viewers, while NBC and CBS grew in the demo. Year-to-year, just CBS maintained its demo delivery.

Monday's broadcast was excluded from all three networks due to Memorial Day.

Total Viewers: NBC: 7,570,000 / ABC: 6,890,000 / CBS: 5,380,000

25-54 demo: NBC: 2,200,000 / ABC: 1,860,000 / CBS: 1,610,000

NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams has reached the half-year mark for consecutive A25-54 demo wins, finishing first for the 26th time last week. However it is the third consecutive week ABC World News with Charles Gibson has narrowed the gap between the programs, with a demo difference of just 170,000 last week. NBC has won in Total Viewers for 32 consecutive weeks.

All three networks were declined week-to-week in both categories. Year-to-year, the only program to gain viewers is the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

Week of May 18:

Total Viewers: NBC: 7,340,000 / ABC: 6,870,000 / CBS: 5,400,000

25-54 demo: NBC: 2,090,000 / ABC: 1,920,000 / CBS: 1,510,000

May Sweep:

Total Viewers: NBC: 7,910,000 / ABC: 7,310,000 / CBS: 5,640,000

25-54 demo: NBC: 2,360,000 / ABC: 2,070,000 / CBS: 1,650,000

NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams was the top-rated evening newscast last week, in both Total Viewers and the A25-54 demo. All three networks declined week-to-week in Total Viewers, while ABC and CBS grew week-to-week in the demo.

It was the smallest demo gap between first place NBC and 2nd place ABC since the week of April 13.

Total Viewers: NBC: 7,690,000 / ABC: 7,140,000 / CBS: 5,610,000

25-54 demo: NBC: 2,270,000 / ABC: 2,090,000 / CBS: 1,620,000

For the 30th consecutive week, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams was the top-rated evening newscast in Total Viewers last week. But it's getting closer. ABC World News with Charles Gibson pulled to the smallest difference between the two programs since the week of November 3 — more than six months ago.

In the A25-54 demo, NBC won for the 24th consecutive week. All three networks declined week-to-week in both categories. ABC cut the gap by 46% in Total Viewers and 21% in the demo week-to-week.

Total Viewers: NBC: 7,890,000 / ABC: 7,490,000 / CBS: 5,700,000

25-54 demo: NBC: 2,360,000 / ABC: 2,060,000 / CBS: 1,610,000