ABC World News Tonight with David Muir opened the 2026-2027 broadcast season as the only evening newscast that lost no viewers in either total viewers or the Adults 25-54 demo, according to Nielsen national live+same-day ratings.

The win carries history. It marks the 11th consecutive year that WNT started a new season as the most-watched evening broadcast. It was also the program's most-watched week to open a season in six years, dating back to the 2020-2021 season.

The demo race tightened. Just 183,000 viewers separated World News Tonight from NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas in Adults 25-54 for the week of September 21, 2026 — a narrow margin that adds depth to the competition between the two programs.

For the week, WNT averaged 8.388 million total viewers and 1.153 million Adults 25-54 viewers, per Nielsen Big Data + Panel ratings. That represents a 3% gain in total viewers week over week and a flat performance in the demo. Against the same week in 2025 (the week beginning September 22), the newscast was up 17% in total viewers and 35% in the demo.

NBC Nightly News finished second in both measures, averaging 6.495 million total viewers and 970,000 demo viewers. Nightly News slipped 1% in total viewers and 9% in the demo versus the previous week. Year over year, NBC's broadcast was up 14% in total viewers and 20% in the demo.

CBS Evening News trailed with 3.98 million total viewers and 497,000 Adults 25-54 viewers. The CBS broadcast declined 1% in total viewers and 17% in the demo compared with the prior week. Measured against the same week a year ago, CBS Evening News was up 7% in total viewers and 19% in the demo.

One methodological caveat shapes the weekly averages. ABC's and CBS's figures are based on four days, Monday through Thursday, because the Friday editions of both broadcasts (September 25, 2026) were retitled — to WNT-ABC and CBS Evening Nws, respectively — and Nielsen excludes retitled telecasts from weekly and season averages.

All three network newscasts posted double-digit year-over-year demo growth, a signal that linear evening news continues to draw audiences at scale even as viewing fragments across platforms. For ABC, the stakes now shift to whether Muir's broadcast can convert its season-opening momentum — and its razor-thin demo lead over NBC — into a durable advantage as the 2026-2027 season unfolds.