The evening newscasts enjoyed a nice bounce heading into the Labor Day weekend as all three posted week-to-week gains in total viewers.

ABC World News Tonight with David Muir was the No. 1 program of the week across broadcast and cable. The ABC News flagship newscast has been the most-watched program on television for 23 weeks this season, with and without sports.

Within the advertiser-coveted Adults 25-54 demo, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt was the only broadcast to see a week-to-week decline in viewers. But the network notes that Nightly News was the third most-watched show of the week, excluding sports, specials and syndication.

Note: The weekly averages of ABC World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News and CBS Evening News are based on four days (Monday – Thursday) due to the Labor Day weekend. Friday’s (08/30/24) broadcasts were retitled to WNT-ABC, NBC Nitely News and CBS Evening Nws. These broadcasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages.

WNT averaged 7.366 million total viewers and 999,000 A25-54 demo viewers for the pre-Labor Day week. That translates to gains of +5% in both measured categories compared to the previous week.

Looking at its performance alongside the same week in 2023 (the week beginning August 28), WNT was down in total viewers by -7% and -16% in the demo. It has been at the top in total viewers for 298 out of 301 weeks and 226 out of the last 231 weeks in the demo. 

NBC Nightly News took second in total viewers and the demo, averaging 5.602 million and 752,000 viewers, respectively. Compared to the previous week, the newscast was up +6% in total viewers, but fell by -4% in the demo.

Year-to-year, Nightly News was down -14% in the former category and -33% in the latter.

CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell saw an audience of 4.287 million total viewers and 632,000 viewers. That’s a week-to-week bump of +5% in both measured categories.

Year-to-year, the newscast saw declines of -10% in total viewers and -16% in the demo.

Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of August 26, 2024:

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 8/26/24), Previous Week (w/o 8/19/24) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 8/21/23). Most Current Data Stream: 2023-2024 Season (9/25/23 – 9/1/24) and 2022-2023 Season (9/19/22 – 8/27/23). Nielsen ratings for ABC, NBC and CBS include additional airings in select markets. Beginning 8/31/20, national ratings also include Out of Home (OOH) viewing. Averages based on regular telecasts.