NBC Nightly News and CBS Evening News saw viewership gains in the Adults 25-54 demo during the first full week of October.

Unfortunately, all three evening news broadcasts registered week-to-week declines in total viewers.

However, the real story of the week is the substantial inroads Nightly News is making in the demo, as 14,000 demo viewers are separating it from ABC’s World News Tonight.

This is Nightly News’ closest demo gap vs. WNT in 6 years. 

Note: The weekly average of ABC News is based on three days (Tuesday to Thursday). Monday’s (10/06/25) broadcast was retitled to WNT-ABC due to the NFL, while Friday’s (10/10/25) broadcast was also retitled to WNT-ABC. These broadcasts were excluded from the weekly and season averages.

According to national live+same day big data plus program ratings from Nielsen, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir averaged 7.192 million total viewers and 801,000 Adults 25-54 demo viewers for the week of October 6. The evening newscast experienced losses of -2% in total viewers and -5% in the demo compared to the previous week—it was the only newscast to see declines in both measured categories. Looking at its performance to the same week in 2024 (the week beginning Oct. 7), WNT was down by -4% in total viewers and by -26% in the demo.

In second place in total viewers and the demo was NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas, averaging 5.63 million and 787,000 viewers, respectively. The broadcast was down by -3% in total viewers but saw a viewership gain of +2% in the A25-54 demo. When comparing its performance to the same week a year ago, Nightly News declined by -5% in total viewers and -16% in the demo. 

CBS Evening News had 3.555 million total viewers and 422,000 viewers in the demo for the week of October 6. The broadcast dipped by -1% in total viewers but grew by +6% in the demo compared to the previous week. Its year-ago week numbers saw the newscast decline by -21% in total viewers and -33% in the demo.  

Source: Nielsen, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 National Live + Same Day Big Data Plus Panel Program Ratings. Current Week (w/o 10/6/25), Previous Week (w/o 9/29/25) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 10/7/24). Season to date: Most Current Data Stream: 2025-2026 Season (9/22 – 10/12/25) and 2024-2025 Season (9/23 – 10/13/24).