2024-2025 Season
ABC World News Tonight with David Muir was America’s most-watched newscast in total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo for the just concluded 2024-2025 TV broadcast season.
However, it joined NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas and CBS Evening News in recording season-to-season declines across the board.
There should be a caveat associated with NBC News’ and CBS News’ numbers, as the two networks experienced anchor transitions during this period. NBC News saw Lester Holt step down from the newscast, with Llamas taking over, while Norah O’Donnell was replaced at CBS News with a dual anchor-led program featuring John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois.
According to Nielsen Media Research, when comparing its 2025 performance to the 2023-2024 season, ABC News’ World News Tonight had 7.594 million total viewers, a -2% decrease in total viewers. It had the same decrease in the A25-54 demo, which had 1.054 million viewers.
NBC Nightly News averaged 6.020 million total viewers and 876,000 A25-54 viewers for the just concluded season. The newscast was down -6% in total viewers and -8% in the demo compared to 2024.
CBS Evening News finished the season averaging 4.171 million total viewers and 588,000 A25-54 viewers. It was down by -10% in total viewers and -12% in the demo vs. the 2024 season—the only newscast with double-digit declines.
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
| • Total Viewers: | 7,594,000 | 6,020,000 | 4,171,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,054,000 | 876,000 | 588,000 |
Week of September 15
ABC World News Tonight with David Muir may have been among the collateral damage resulting from the brief suspension of ABC’s late-night program, Jimmy Kimmel Live.
The newscast finished the week recording declines in total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo, with the pain being especially felt in the demo, where it finished ahead of NBC Nightly News by only 48,000 viewers.
Note: The weekly average of ABC News is based on four days (Tuesday through Friday). Monday’s (09/15/25) broadcast was retitled to WNT-ABC due to the NFL. This broadcast was excluded from the weekly and season averages.
According to live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir averaged 6.990 million total viewers for the week of September 15. It saw a -2% depreciation in total viewers and fell by double digits, -16%, in the A25-54 demo, which had 842,000 viewers. Looking at its performance to the same week in 2024 (the week beginning September 16), WNT was down -3% in total viewers and -11% in the demo.
