ABC News Monthly Ratings Release: November 2019

ABC News’ “World News Tonight with David Muir” won the November 2019 sweep in both Total Viewers (8.945 million) and Adults 25-54 (1.754 million) for the first time in 23 years (since November 1996), based on Most Current Data from Nielsen Media Research. “World News Tonight” outdelivered “NBC Nightly News” (8.161 million and 1.748 million, respectively) by 784,000 Total Viewers and 6,000 Adults 25-54. In fact, “World News Tonight” saw its largest overall viewer lead over ”Nightly News” during the month in 24 years – since November 1995. “World News Tonight” won the month in overall viewers for the 4th year in a row and posted its 13th consecutive sweeps victory overall – both since November 2016.

During the November Sweep, anchor David Muir had an exclusive report from the Eastern Mediterranean on 11/4/19 with unprecedented access on board the USS Florida submarine amid rising tensions in the region, and he anchored “World News Tonight” from Washington, D.C., on 11/12/19 and 11/13/19 to cover the first public impeachment inquiry hearings for President Donald Trump. The 11/4/19 and 11/12/19 broadcasts delivered the most-watched single evening newscasts of any network in the past 7 months – since 4/15/19, including all “NBC Nightly News” and “CBS Evening News” telecasts.

In addition, the ABC evening newscast took the top spot in Adults 25-54 in November for the first time in 5 years, while winning in the key adult news demo for the 4th sweep in a row – since November 2014 and February 2019, respectively.

For the 4th sweep running, “World News Tonight” improved on the year-ago sweep in Total Viewers (+3%/+222,000 – 8.945 million vs. 8.723 million), standing as the only evening news program to post gains.

“World News Tonight” cut its margins with “NBC Nightly News” versus the year-ago sweep by double digits in Adults 18-49 (-49% – 38,000 vs. 74,000), seeing its closest November performance in 23 years – since November 1996.

“World News Tonight” posted double-digit gains across the board versus the previous sweep: Total Viewers (+11%/911,000 – 8.945 million vs. 8.034 million), Adults 25-54 (+16%/247,000 – 1.754 million vs. 1.507 million) and Adults 18-49 (+15%/152,000 – 1.178 million vs. 1.026 million).

“World News Tonight” (8.945 million, 1.754 million and 1.178 million, respectively) outdelivered CBS’ “Evening News” (5.780 million, 1.126 million and 817,000, respectively) by 3.165 million Total Viewers, 628,000 Adults 25-54 and 361,000 Adults 18-49 during the 2019 November sweep. In fact, “World News Tonight” delivered its largest Total Viewer lead during any sweep in at least 28 years (since at least the November 1991 sweep during the start of Nielsen electronic database in the 1991-1992 season).

ABC “World News Tonight with David Muir” airs 6:30–7:00 p.m. EST on ABC. Almin Karamehmedovic is the executive producer of the broadcast.

EVENING NEWS (2019 November Sweep)

            TOTAL VIEWERS    ADULTS 25-54        ADULTS 18-49       HOUSEHOLDS
ABC NEWS      8,945,000    1.4/7; 1,754,000    0.9/6; 1,178,000       5.9/13
NBC NEWS      8,161,000    1.4/7; 1,748,000    0.9/6; 1,216,000       5.2/11
CBS NEWS      5,780,000    0.9/5; 1,126,000    0.6/4;   817,000       3.8/ 8

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49. Sweeps based on Live+7/Most Current: November 2019 Sweep (10/31 – 11/27/19), November 2018 Sweep (10/25 – 11/21/18) and July 2019 Sweep (7/4 – 7/31/19). Sweep periods (November, February, May and July). NOTE: Due to the digital transition, the 2009 February sweep was 3/5 – 4/1/09. Averages based on regular telecasts.