During week of Brian Williams’ 10th Anniversary, NBC Broadcast Tops ABC by Over 170K in the Demo and Posts Biggest Total Viewer Advantage Since August
Nightly is Delivering Best Start to a Season Since 2005
DECEMBER 9, 2014 – “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” was America’s #1 newscast across the board for the week of December 1-5, 2014, according to Nielsen Media Research data.
During the week that marked Brian Williams’ tenth anniversary as anchor and managing editor, the NBC broadcast posted its biggest wins over ABC in months — delivering the best demo viewer lead since March and widest total viewer advantage since August. Nightly was #1 in all total viewer, A25-54, and A18-49 demos each night of the week.
Growth:
- Nightly widened its total viewer lead over ABC for the second straight week and by +40% week-to-week.
- Nightly posted the biggest evening news gains versus 4Q’14/STD levels in total viewers (+7%, or +658,000), A18-49 viewers (+11%, or +174,000), and A25-54 viewers (+10%, or +216,000).
- Versus the same week last season, Nightly was up +1% (+77,000) in total viewers.
- Nightly is currently delivering +2% total viewer growth this season-to-date and is having its best start to a season (9.052 million) in 9 years.
Weekly Highlights:
- Nightly averaged 9.649 million total viewers, +9% (+809,000) ahead of ABC World News Tonight and +29% (+2.169 million) more than CBS Evening News.
- This marks the NBC broadcast’s biggest total viewer win over ABC since the week of 8/18/2014.
- Nightly has been #1 in total viewers for 273 consecutive weeks and 320 of the last 321 weeks.
- Nightly averaged 1.700 million A18-49 viewers, topping ABC by +19% (+272,000) and CBS by +31% (+402,000).
- Nightly averaged 2.313 million A25-54 viewers, leading ABC by +8% (+173,000) and CBS by +23% (436,000).
- This marks Nightly’s biggest demo viewer win over ABC since the week of 3/17/2014.
- Nightly averaged a 1.9 A25-54 rating, topping ABC by +1 tenth and CBS by +3 tenths.
- This marks Nightly’s biggest A18-49 viewer win over ABC since the Sochi Olympics (week of 2/17/2014).
- Nightly delivered a 1.3 A18-49 rating, topping ABC by +2 tenths and CBS by +3 tenths.
WEEK OF DECEMBER 1-5, 2014
| Total Viewers | A25-54 Rating | A25-54 Viewers | A18-49 Rating | A18-49 Viewers | |
| NBC | 9.649 | 1.9 | 2.313 | 1.3 | 1.700 |
| CBS | 7.485 | 1.6 | 1.877 | 1.0 | 1.298 |
| ABC | 8.840 | 1.8 | 2.140 | 1.1 | 1.428 |
NOTE: Due to erroneous data processing by Nielsen, broadcast and syndicated data (for all shows and demos) from March-October 2014 was coded erroneously. Data from 3/2/14 through 3/23/14 and from 8/18/14 through 10/6/14 has already been reprocessed, corrected and released. Data for the dates 3/24/14-8/17/14 will be reissued over the next several weeks. Some milestone points above reference data within the range that is still based on incorrect data.
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NBC NIGHTLY NEWS WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS
“NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” is America’s most-watched evening newscast, going beyond the day’s headlines to uncover stories of how people’s lives are affected by the world around them. “NBC Nightly News” reaches nearly 10 million people every day through its broadcast and millions more through NBCNews.com, the “Nightly News” app, and social media platforms. Brian Williams is the anchor and managing editor and Patrick Burkey is the executive producer.
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