“NBC NIGHTLY NEWS WITH LESTER HOLT” IS #1 ACROSS THE BOARD DURING THE WEEK OF STATE OF THE UNION COVERAGE

Nightly’s Total Viewer Advantage Versus CBS Hits Three Week High

The NBC Broadcast Widens Its Season-to-Date Demo Gap Versus ABC Year-to-Year

JANUARY 20, 2016– During the week of President Obama’s final State of the Union address, “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” was #1 in total viewers and all categories, marking 28 wins in the last 30 weeks since Holt was named anchor. Nightly has been #1 among total viewers 321 of the last 330 weeks and 369 of the last 380 weeks.  

Compared to the same week last season, the NBC broadcast more than doubled its A25-54 advantage versus ABC (by 130%;+225,000 last week vs. +98,000 last year).

Season-to-date, Nightly is the #1 evening newscast across the board and the only network to post growth in the A25-54 demo. The NBC broadcast has widened its A25-54 lead vs. ABC by 179,000 viewers versus the same period last season (+191,000 lead this season vs. a +12,000 gap last year).  

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 9.401 million total viewers, outperforming ABC by +117,000 (+1%) and CBS by +1.586 million (20%).
  • Nightly averaged 2.337 million A25-54 viewers, +225,000 (+11%) higher than ABC and +495,000 (+27%) more than CBS.
  • Nightly averaged 1.701 million A18-49 viewers, leading ABC by +223,000 (+15%) and CBS by +423,000 (+33%).
  • Nightly has been #1 among total viewers in 28 of the last 30 weeks, 321 of the last 330 weeks, and 369 of the last 380 weeks.
  • Nightly won its 7th consecutive week in A25-54 demo viewers and has been #1 in 28 of the last 30 weeks.
  • The NBC broadcast is #1 in A18-49 viewers for 25 consecutive weeks and 33 of the last 36 weeks.

Season-to-Date Highlights:

  • Nightly is averaging 8.962 million total viewers, leading ABC by +281,000 (+3% )and CBS by +1.506 million (+20%).
  • Nightly is averaging 2.177 million A25-54 viewers, leading ABC by +191,000 (+10%) and CBS by +467,000 (+27%).
  • Nightly is averaging 1.570 million A18-49 viewers, leading ABC by +222,000 (+16 %) and CBS by +415,000 (+36%).

 

WEEK OF JANUARY 11-15 2016:

Total Viewers A25-54 Rating A25-54 Viewers A18-49 Rating A18-49 Viewers
NBC       9.401 2.0 2.337 1.3 1.701
CBS 7.815 1.6 1.842 1.0 1.278
ABC 9.284 1.8 2.112 1.2 1.478