Viewer interest in national and global affairs apparently returned the week of Nov. 18 as all three evening news broadcasts saw audience gains. Controversy surrounding Matt Gaetz‘s now-withdrawn nomination as President-elect Donald Trump‘s next attorney general, plus other administration appointments made for a newsy week.

ABC News and NBC News’ newscasts both saw gains in total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo, while CBS News enjoyed gains in the former, but not the latter. The trio were all on the same page in terms of suffering declines in both measured categories compared to 2023.

Note: The weekly averages of ABC World News Tonight and CBS Evening News are based on three days (Tuesday – Thursday) and four days (Monday – Friday), respectively. ABC News Monday’s (11/18/24) and Friday’s (11/22/24) broadcasts were retitled to ABC-WNT, and CBS News Friday’s (11/22/24) broadcast was retitled to CBS Evening Nws. These broadcasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages.

ABC World News with David Muir averaged 7.786 million total viewers and 1.125 million demo viewers last week. That translates to respective gains of +7% and +16% in the A25-54 demo compared to the previous week. Looking at its performance alongside the same week in 2023 (the week of Nov. 20), WNT was down -5% in total viewers and -1% in the demo.

NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt was the No. 2 evening broadcast in total viewers and the demo, averaging 6.341 million viewers and 934,000 viewers in this respective categories. Week-to-week, Nightly News was up +5% in the former category and +9% in the latter. Year-to-year, the newscast was down -17% in total viewers and -15% in the demo. 

CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell saw 4.680 million total viewers and 661,000 viewers for a gain of +2% in the former category, but a -1% dip in the latter. Compared to its year-ago numbers, it was down by -6% in total viewers and -4 % in the demo. Meanwhile, CBS News recently announced that O’Donnell’s final week as anchor would be the week of Trump’s inauguration.