Last Week’s ‘Nightly News’ Reaches Largest Total & Demo Audiences in Over a Year, Only Evening Newscast to Grow Across the Board in Week & Year Measurements
PLUS: Saturday’s ‘Nightly News’ is #1 Program of the Week in all of TV, Highest Rated Saturday Edition in 8 Years
Week of February 2 Highlights
- Nightly News ranks #1 in the key A25-54 and A18-49 demos on Wednesday, same night as Llamas’ exclusive sit-down with President Trump
- Nightly News reaches its largest total viewer and A25-54 audiences in over a year, largest A18-49 audience in year and a half
- Nightly News is the only evening newscast to grow across the board in both week-over-week and year-over-year measurements
- Saturday’s NBC Nightly News is the #1 program of the week in all of TV with 9.7 million total viewers and 1.4 million A25-54 viewers (excluding specials, sports, and syndication)
- Nightly News continues to deliver its closest demo gaps vs. ABC in six years for the current season
Week of February 2 Stats
- Averages 7.2 million total viewers, topping CBS by +2.657 million (+58%)
- Increases total viewership vs. last week by +85,000, last year by +342,000
- Reaches largest total viewer audience in 54 weeks (best since 1/20/25)
- Nightly News narrows the total viewer gap vs. ABC by 16% vs. last week
- Averages 1.1 million A25-54 viewers, beating CBS by +521,000 (+90%)
- #1 evening newscast on Wednesday, topping ABC by +31,000
- Nightly News is only evening newscast to increase A25-54 viewers vs. last week (+60,000), largest A25-54 audience since 1/6/25
- Increases A25-54 viewers vs. last year, +152,000
- Narrows the A25-54 gap vs. ABC by 65% vs. last week, 72% vs. last year
- Nightly News’ A25-54 gap vs. ABC is 39% better vs. prior year at this point in the season, marking its closest demo gap vs. the network in 6 years
- Averages 789,000 A18-49 viewers, beating CBS by +363,000 (+85%)
- #1 evening newscast on Wednesday, topping ABC by +30,000
- Only evening newscast to increase A18-49 viewers vs. last week (+86,000), largest A18-49 audience since 8/5/24
- Increases A18-49 viewership vs. last year by +148,000
- Narrows the A18-49 gap vs. ABC by 61% vs. last week, 53% vs. last year
- Nightly News’ A18-49 gap vs. ABC is 22% better vs. prior year at this point in the season
WEEK OF 2/2/2026
| Program | P25-54 | P18-49 | P2+ |
| Imps | Imps | Imps | |
| NBC NIGHTLY NEWS | 1,100 | 789 | 7,233 |
| CBS EVENING NEWS | 579 | 426 | 4,576 |
| ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT | 1,150 | 856 | 8,987 |
Nielsen Big Data + Panel, L+SD, 2/2/2026-2/8/2026. Average audience based on regularly-titled telecasts only.
Note: ABC World News Tonight and CBS Evening News were based on 4-day averages, retitling on Friday.
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