ABC World News Tonight with David Muir held its position as America's most-watched evening newscast for the week of Sept. 28, 2026, averaging 8.346 million total viewers and 1.136 million Adults 25-54 viewers, according to Nielsen national live+same-day big data and program ratings.

How did the three newscasts compare?

The weekly race sorted cleanly by long-standing rank order:

• ABC World News Tonight — 8.346M total viewers, 1.136M Adults 25-54
• NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas — 6.894M total viewers, 1.006M Adults 25-54
• CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil — 4.24M total viewers, 585,000 Adults 25-54

CBS cleared the 4 million total-viewer benchmark for the week.

Which newscast gained the most ground?

CBS posted the strongest weekly gains. CBS Evening News climbed 7% in total viewers and 18% in the demo versus the prior week, the only broadcast to record double-digit growth in the prized Adults 25-54 measure.

NBC Nightly News rose 6% in total viewers and 4% in the demo week over week. ABC World News Tonight slipped 1% in both categories.

How do 2026 numbers stack against 2025?

All three broadcasts beat their year-ago week on both measurements:

• ABC: +14% in total viewers, +35% in the demo
• NBC: +19% in total viewers, +30% in the demo
• CBS: +18% in total viewers, +47% in the demo

CBS led on the year-over-year demo comparison, tying NBC for the largest total-viewer lift over the same week in 2025.

What scheduling quirks shaped the weekly averages?

Nielsen's CBS weekly average covers four days (Monday through Thursday) of regularly titled telecasts. NBC Nightly News's weekly average reflects only Monday, with the rest of the week's broadcasts reshaped by MLB Wild Card Playoffs coverage.

Tuesday (Sept. 29), Wednesday (Sept. 30), Thursday (Oct. 1), and Friday (Oct. 2) NBC News broadcasts carried the alternate title "NBC Nitely News" tied to playoff programming and were excluded from weekly and season-to-date averages. Friday's Oct. 2 CBS News broadcast ran under the retitled "CBS Evening Nws" and was likewise excluded.

What does this mean for ad inventory?

ABC's continued lead gives World News Tonight anchors the category's largest weekly reach, even with its 1% dip. CBS's 47% year-over-year demo growth and 18% week-over-week demo lift give the network a fresh pitch to agencies budgeting against Adults 25-54, the metric Nielsen ties most closely to CPMs on evening news.

With NBC's weekly average built on a single day, the next full programming week will give advertisers a cleaner read on Nightly News's post-playoff floor heading into the second week of October.