ABC's WORLD NEWS Improves on Year-Ago in Total Viewers

For the week of March 31, 2014, "ABC WORLD News with Diane Sawyer" averaged 7.726 million Total Viewers and a 1.6 rating/7 share/1.964 million in Adults 25-54, according to Nielsen Media Research. For the 5th straight week, "World News" was up from the year-ago week in both Total Viewers (+4%) and Adults 25-54 (+4%) - 7.401 million and 1.891 million, respectively, on w/o 4/1/13. In addition, "World News" stood as the only evening newscast to grow in the demo year to year as "CBS Evening News" (-7%) and "NBC Nightly News" (-4%) both lost viewers.

For the 3rd time in the last 4 weeks, "World News" ranked No. 1 in Adults 25-54 on Friday (4/4/14), leading "NBC Nightly News" on the night by +10,000 demo viewers (1.808 million vs. 1.798 million).

"World News" cut its week-to-week Total Viewer margin with "NBC Nightly News" by double-digits (-22% - 899,000 vs. 1.155 million) to deliver its closest performance with the NBC newscast in 5 months - since w/o 10/28/13.

"World News" narrowed its Total Viewer margin "NBC Nightly News" from the year-ago week by 8% (899,000 vs. 974,000), while slashing its year-to-year Adults 25-54 gap with the NBC newscast nearly in half (-47% - 173,000 vs. 327,000).

Season to date, "World News" is up versus the same point last season in both Total Viewers (+4%) and Adults 25-54 (+4%), delivering its most-watched season in 5 years and best news demo number in 3 years - since the 2008-09 and the 2010-11 seasons, respectively. "World News" also stands as the only evening newscast to improve its demo performance from the previous season compared to "CBS Evening News" (-5%) and "NBC Nightly News" (flat).

In addition, "World News" is narrowing its season margin with "NBC Nightly News" in Adults 25-54 by double digits (-24% - 242,000 vs. 320,000) compared to its season margin from the same point last year. In fact, cutting its Adults 25-54 gap for the 4th consecutive season, "World News" is seeing its closest news demo performance with the NBC program in 6 years - since the 2007-08 season.

"World News" has nearly doubled its Adults 25-54 lead over "CBS Evening News" versus its year-ago season lead (+98% - 358,000 vs. 181,000).

For the week, "ABC WORLD News" led the "CBS Evening News" by 879,000 Total Viewers and by 372,000 Adults 25-54.

"ABC WORLD News with Diane Sawyer" airs at 6:30 p.m., ET on the ABC Television Network. Michael Corn is the executive producer of the broadcast. Follow Diane Sawyer and the "World News" team online: @DianeSawyer; @ABCWorldNews; facebook.com/DianeSawyer; facebook.com/WorldNews.

EVENING NEWS (Week of March 31, 2014)

TOTAL VIEWERS ADULTS 25-54 ADULTS 18-49 HOUSEHOLDS
ABC WORLD NEWS 7,726,000 1.6/7; 1,964,000 1.1/5; 1,373,000 5.2/10
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS 8,625,000 1.8/7; 2,137,000 1.3/6; 1,609,000 5.8/12
CBS EVENING NEWS 6,847,000 1.3/5; 1,592,000 0.9/4; 1,101,000