“NBC NIGHTLY NEWS WITH LESTER HOLT” DRAWS BIGGEST TOTAL VIEWER AUDIENCE IN OVER A YEAR

The NBC Broadcast Averages Over 10 Million Viewers Each Night of the Week

Nightly Delivers Biggest Key Demo Audience and Widest Advantage Over ABC Since The Sochi Olympics

JANUARY 26, 2016 – “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” was #1 across the board and delivered its largest total viewer audience in over a year (since the week of 1/5/15). Nightly averaged over 10 million viewers each night for the first time since the week of 1/5/15, and also posted the widest total viewer advantages over ABC in 4 weeks (12/21/15) and over CBS in 7 weeks (11/30/15).

The NBC broadcast delivered its biggest A25-54 demo audience and widest gap over ABC since the Sochi Olympics (the week of 2/10/14).

Week-to-week, Nightly posted the biggest gains among the evening newscasts across-the-board in total viewers, (+10%, or +918,000), A25-54 viewers (+17%, or +406,000), and A18-49 viewers (+16%, or +266,000). Nightly also more than quadrupled its total viewer lead over ABC (by 355%), more than doubled its A25-54 advantage (by 107%) and improved its A18-49 gap by 50%.

Compared to the same week last season, the NBC broadcast delivered the largest growth across-the-board in total viewers (+9%, or +875,000), A25-54 viewers (+19%, or +432,000), and A18-49 viewers (+20%, or +331,000).

Nightly has now won among total viewers for 29 of the 31 weeks, 322 of the last 331 weeks, and 370 of the last 381 weeks.

NOTE: As of 12/28/15, Nielsen national ratings are based on an expanded sample known as “NPX,” which effectively doubles the size of the Nielsen panel through a combination of additional meters and HHs. While NPX is now the official currency of record, all data pre-12/28/15 remains based on the old sample — so year-to-year and other comparisons are versus pre-NPX data.

Weekly Highlights:

  • Nightly averaged 10.319 million total viewers, outperforming ABC by +532,000 (+5%) and CBS by +1.846 million (22%).
  • Nightly averaged 2.743 million A25-54 viewers, +466,000 (+20%) higher than ABC and +657,000 (+31%) more than CBS.
  • Nightly averaged 1.969 million A18-49 viewers, leading ABC by +334,000 (+20%) and CBS by +520,000 (+36%).
  • Nightly won its 8th consecutive week in A25-54 demo viewers and has been #1 in 29 of the last 31 weeks.
  • The NBC broadcast is #1 in A18-49 viewers for 26 consecutive weeks and 34 of the last 37 weeks.

Season-to-Date Highlights:

  • Nightly is averaging 9.046 million total viewers, leading ABC by +297,000 (+3% )and CBS by +1.523 million (+20%).
  • Nightly is averaging 2.212 million A25-54 viewers, leading ABC by +208,000 (+10%) and CBS by +477,000 (+28%).
  • Nightly is averaging 1.595 million A18-49 viewers, leading ABC by +229,000 (+17%) and CBS by +421,000 (+36%).
  • Nightly is the only evening newscast to post A25-54 growth this season (+1.6%, or +35,000) while both ABC (-7%, or -154,000) and CBS (-1%, or -12,000) have declined.
  • Nightly has widened its A25-54 lead vs. ABC by 189,000 viewers versus last season (+208,000 lead this season vs. a +19,000 gap last year).
  • Nightly has also improved its A25-54 gap over CBS by 11% versus last season (477,000 lead this season vs. +430,000 a year ago).
  • Nightly is showing wider A18-49 advantages this season over both ABC (by 67%) and CBS (by 3%).

WEEK OF JANUARY 18-22 2016:

Total Viewers A25-54 Rating A25-54 Viewers A18-49 Rating A18-49 Viewers
NBC      10.319 2.3 2.743 1.6 1.967
CBS 8.473 1.8 2.086 1.1 1.447
ABC 9.787 1.9 2.277 1.3 1.633