ABC News Weekly Ratings Release: August 12 - 18, 2019

ABC News’ “World News Tonight with David Muir” stood as the evening’s No. 1 newscast in Total Viewers (8.370 million), Adults 25-54 (1.559 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.062 million) for the week of Aug. 12, 2019, based on Live + Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research. Taking the top spot across the board for the 5th time in the last 6 weeks, “World News Tonight” outperformed “NBC Nightly News” (7.170 million, 1.517 million and 1.029, respectively) by 1.200 million Total Viewers, by 42,000 Adults 25-54 and by 33,000 Adults 18-49. In addition, “World News Tonight” increased its Total Viewer lead week to week by 42% (vs. 846,000 for w/o 8/5/19), while more than doubling its margin of victory year to year (+108%; vs. 577,000 for w/o 8/13/18) to win for the 46th time in the 47 weeks of the season.

“World News Tonight” was up year to year (w/o 8/6/18) in Total Viewers (+379,000/+5% – 8.370 million vs. 7.991 million) and Adults 25-54 (+26,000/+2% – 1.559 million vs. 1.533 million), standing as the only evening newscast to improve in both measures.

“World News Tonight” grew week to week (w/o 8/5/19) in all key target demos: Total Viewers (+341,000/+4% – 8.370 million vs. 8.029 million), Adults 25-54 (+98,000/+7% – 1.559 million vs. 1.461 million) and Adults 18-49 (+30,000/+3% – 1.062 million vs. 1.032 million). “World News Tonight” turned in its largest overall audience in over 3 months and strongest key Adults performances in over 2 months – since weeks of 4/29/19 and 6/3/19, respectively.

For the week, “World News Tonight” beat “CBS Evening News” by 3.238 million Total Viewers, by 525,000 Adults 25-54 and by 321,000 Adults 18-49.

Season to date, “World News Tonight” ranks No. 1 in Total Viewers for the 3rd year in a row after finishing as the No. 1 evening newscast for the last two seasons. “World News Tonight” (8.638 million) leads “NBC Nightly News” (7.993 million) by 645,000, delivering its largest Total Viewer lead in 23 years (since the 1995-1996 season) and “CBS Evening News” (5.905 million) by 2.733 million, posting its biggest Total Viewer advantage in at least 27 years (since at least the start of Nielsen electronic database in 1991-1992 season).

In addition, “World News Tonight” is cutting its season margins with NBC by more than half in both Adults 25-54 (-68% – 24,000 vs. 75,000) and Adults 18-49 (-74% – 22,000 vs. 84,000), posting its closest Adults 18-49 performance 12 years – since the 2006-2007 season.