Nightly News Is Up Across the Board from the Same Week Last Year, Shows Largest Growth in the Demo Compared to Competition
The NBC News Broadcast Ranks #1 in A25-54 and A18-49 for 72 of the last 73 Weeks
Nightly News is Only Broadcast Up in Total Viewers from Last Week
NEW YORK (December 20, 2016) – “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” ranked #1 across the board for the week of December 12, averaging 9.25 million total viewers, leading “ABC World News Tonight” by +262,000 viewers (+3%) and “CBS Evening News” by +1.7 million viewers (+23%). It marks the fourth straight across-the-board win for the NBC News broadcast. Compared to the same week last season, Nightly News grew across the board, adding +416,000 total viewers (+5%), +65,000 A25-54 viewers (+3%) and +71,000 A18-49 viewers (+5%). The NBC News broadcast was the only evening newscast up from the previous week, adding +64,000 viewers.
Nightly News continues its dominance in the demo, averaging 2.2 million A25-54 viewers for the week, leading ABC by +282,000 (+15%) and CBS by +479,000 (+28%). Compared to the same week last season, Nightly News saw the largest demo growth, up +3% (+65,000), and increased its leads over both ABC (+16%) and CBS (+12%).
Among A18-49, Nightly News averaged 1.6 million viewers for the week, topping ABC by +209,000 (+15%) and CBS by +385,000 (+32%). The NBC News broadcast has ranked #1 in A25-54 and A18-49 for 72 of the last 73 weeks.
Due to NFL football, Nightly News is based on a four-day average (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday) while CBS and ABC are based on five-day averages.
Weekly Highlights:
- Nightly News ranked #1 across the board, averaging 9.25 million total viewers, leading “ABC World News Tonight” by +262,000 (+3%) viewers and “CBS Evening News” by 1.7 million viewers (+23%).
- The NBC News broadcast was the only evening newscast up from the previous week, adding +64,000 viewers.
- Compared to the same week last season, Nightly News grew across the board, adding +416,000 total viewers (+5%), +65,000 A25-54 viewers (+3%) and +71,000 A18-49 viewers (+5%).
- Nightly News averaged 2.2 million A25-54 viewers, outperforming ABC by +282,000 (+15%) and CBS by +479,000 (+28%).
- Nightly News has ranked #1 in A25-54 and A18-49 for 72 of the past 73 weeks.
- Nightly News averaged 1.6 million A18-49 viewers, topping ABC by +209,000 (+15%) and CBS by +385,000 (+32%).
Season Highlights:
- Nightly News is having its best A25-54 advantages to start a season over ABC and CBS in three years (2013-14).
- Versus last season, Nightly News has increased its A25-54 lead over ABC by 34% (+256,000 vs +191,000 last year).
Week of December 12 – December 16, 2016:
| Total Viewers | A25-54 Rating | A25-54 Viewers | A18-49 Rating | A18-49 Viewers | |
| NBC | 9.246 | 1.83 | 2.197 | 1.24 | 1.591 |
| CBS | 7.538 | 1.43 | 1.718 | 0.94 | 1.206 |
| ABC | 8.984 | 1.59 | 1.915 | 1.08 | 1.382 |
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ABOUT NBC NIGHTLY NEWS WITH LESTER HOLT
“NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” 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 over 24 million people every week through its broadcast and millions more through NBCNews.com, the “Nightly News” app, and social media platforms. Lester Holt is the anchor and Sam Singal is the executive producer.
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For more information contact:
Jake Urbanski
NBC News
212-664-3211
