Tops ABC’s ‘World News Tonight’ Wednesday & Thursday in A25-54, Continues to Mark Closest Demo Gaps vs. ABC in 6 Years for Current Season
Reaches Largest Total & Demo Audiences in Nearly a Year, Grows Across the Board vs. Last Week
Week of January 19 Highlights
*NBC Nightly News was preempted on Monday, January 12.
- Nightly News ranks #1 in the key A25-54 demo on Wednesday and Thursday
- Nightly News reaches its largest total viewer and A25-54 audiences in nearly a year
- Nightly News continues to deliver its closest demo gaps vs. ABC in six years for the current season
- Nightly News is the #4 most-watched TV show of the week with 6.9 million total viewers (excluding specials, sports, and syndication)
Week of January 19 Stats
- Averages 6.9 million total viewers, topping CBS by +1.991 million (+41%)
- Increases total viewership vs. last week by +176,000
- Reaches largest total viewer audience in 48 weeks (best since 2/17/25)
- Averages 998,000 A25-54 viewers, beating CBS by +323,000 (+48%)
- Nightly News increases A25-54 viewers vs. last week (+34,000), largest A25-54 audience since 2/10/25
- Nightly News A25-54 gap vs. ABC is 43% better vs. prior year at this point in the season, marking its closest demo gap vs. the network in 6 years
- Averages 673,000 A18-49 viewers, beating CBS by +171,000 (+34%)
- Nightly News increases A18-49 viewership vs. last week by +7,000
- Nightly News narrows the A18-49 gap vs. ABC by 14% vs. last year
- Nightly News’ A18-49 gap vs. ABC is 30% better vs. prior year at this point in the season
WEEK OF 1/19/2026
| Program | P25-54 | P18-49 | P2+ |
| Imps | Imps | Imps | |
| NBC NIGHTLY NEWS | 998 | 673 | 6,856 |
| CBS EVENING NEWS | 675 | 502 | 4,865 |
| ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT | 1,089 | 755 | 9,000 |
Nielsen Big Data + Panel, L+SD, 1/19/2026-1/25/2026. Average audience based on regularly-titled telecasts only.
