ABC World News Tonight with David Muir finished the 2025-2026 broadcast season as America's most-watched newscast, averaging 8.472 million total viewers and 1.071 million Adults 25-54 viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. The season close also marked ten consecutive years at No. 1 in total viewers for the ABC broadcast, along with its largest audience in five years, dating back to the 2020-2021 season.

The season's story was one of divergence among the three network evening newscasts. World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas both grew year over year in total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo. CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil, set to mark a full year under Bari Weiss' helm, lost viewers in both categories.

World News Tonight posted 8.472 million total viewers for the season, up 12% versus the 2024-2025 season, and rose 2% in the A25-54 demo to 1.071 million viewers. NBC Nightly News averaged 6.54 million total viewers and 949,000 A25-54 viewers, gaining 9% in total viewers and 8% in the demo. CBS Evening News finished with 4.04 million total viewers and 525,000 demo viewers, down 3% and 11% respectively — the only newscast with double-digit declines.

Third quarter gains amid a crowded news cycle

The third quarter of 2026 gave both ABC and NBC further momentum. The period spanned America's 250th birthday celebrations and the second half of the FIFA World Cup 2026 tournament, while viewers stayed engaged with evening news coverage of the U.S. economy and unrest in the Middle East.

World News Tonight closed the quarter with 8.394 million total viewers and 1.103 million A25-54 viewers, up 2% and 9% respectively against the second quarter. Compared with the year-ago quarter, the ABC broadcast climbed 16% in total viewers and 14% in the demo.

NBC Nightly News averaged 6.632 million total viewers and 1 million demo viewers in the quarter. That represents growth of 4% in total viewers and 8% in the demo versus the prior quarter, and gains of 19% and 27% respectively against Q3 2025 — the strongest year-over-year demo growth of the three broadcasts.

CBS Evening News averaged 3.929 million total viewers and 527,000 A25-54 viewers in Q3. It gained 1% in total viewers but fell 1% in the demo versus the prior quarter, the only newscast with losses in one of the measured segments. Against Q3 2025, CBS grew 3% in total viewers and 1% in the demo.

The demo race tightens

All three broadcasts grew week to week in both total viewers and the demo for the week of September 14. The most notable number: just 86,000 demo viewers now separate World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News.

Per Nielsen live-plus-same-day data, World News Tonight averaged 8.167 million total viewers that week, up 2% week over week, with 1.151 million demo viewers, up 4%. Against the same week in 2025, WNT rose 17% in total viewers and 37% in the demo.

NBC Nightly News held No. 2 in both measures, averaging 6.582 million total viewers and 1.065 million demo viewers. It gained 2% in total viewers and 6% in the demo week over week, and climbed 19% and 34% respectively against the year-ago week.

CBS Evening News drew 4.003 million total viewers and 599,000 demo viewers for the week of September 14, up 3% and 8% respectively versus the previous week, and up 6% and 13% against the same week a year ago.

Nielsen notes that all year-over-year comparisons are based on Big Data+Panel (2026) versus Panel (2025) measurements. Season figures cover September 22, 2025 through September 20, 2026, compared with September 23, 2024 through September 21, 2025.

With NBC closing the demo gap to 86,000 viewers and posting the fastest year-over-year demo growth, the 2026-2027 season opens with the closest Adults 25-54 race the evening news category has seen in years.