ABC's WORLD NEWS Wins Among Adults 25-54; Remains No. 1 Evening Newscast

By: Caryn Robbins Sep. 03, 2014

ABC "World News with Diane Sawyer" stood as the No. 1 evening newscast in Adults 25-54 (1.942 million) for the 4th straight week during the week of August 25, 2014, based on Live +Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research. In fact, "World News" has taken the top spot in the key adult news demo for the 8th time in the last 9 weeks. "World News" outperformed NBC "Nightly News" (1.671 million) by 271,000 news demo viewers to match its largest margin of victory in more than 7 years - since w/o 7/2/07.

"World News" also ranked as the No. 1 evening newscast in Adults 18-49 (1.345 million), leading NBC's "Nightly News" (1.242 million) by 103,000 Adults 18-49 to equal its largest margin in the demo in nearly 7 years - since w/o 10/1/07.

"World News" was up over the previous week (7.325 million, 1.918 million and 1.310 million, respectively, for w/o 8/18/14) in Total Viewers (+1%), Adults 25-54 (+1%) and Adults 18-49 (+3%). "World News" was the only evening newscast to improve in any measure as the "CBS Evening News" (-6%/-11%/-14%) and "NBC Nightly News" (-7%/-10%/-10%) were both down.

For the 3rd consecutive week, "World News" built on its year-ago week performance in all key target demos: Total Viewers (+4%), Adults 25-54 (+9%) and Adults 18-49 (11%) - 7.102 million, 1.786 million and 1.209 million on w/o 8/26/13. "World News" was also the only evening newscast to grow in any demo as the "CBS Evening News" (-3%/-6%/-6%) and "NBC Nightly News" (-3%/-11%/-3%) were down across the board.

"World News" slashed nearly all of its Total Viewers margins with "NBC Nightly News" both week to week (-94% - 40,000 vs. 696,000) and year to year (-92% - 40,000 vs. 513,000). In fact, "World News" turned in its closest Total Viewer performance with "Nightly News" in 5 years - since w/o 9/7/09.

Season to date, "World News" is up versus the same point last season in both Total Viewers (+4%) and Adults 25-54 (+5%), delivering its most-watched season in 6 years and best news demo number in 3 years - since the 2007-08 and the 2010-11 seasons, respectively. "World News" also stands as the only evening newscast to improve on its news demo performance from the previous season compared to "CBS Evening News" (-4%) and "NBC Nightly News" (-3%).

In addition, "World News" is narrowing its season margin with "NBC Nightly News" in Adults 25-54 by more than half (-60% - 113,000 vs. 280,000) compared to its season margin from the same point last year. In fact, cutting its Adults 25-54 gap by double digits for the 3rd 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 significantly increased its Adults 25-54 season lead over "CBS Evening News" versus its year-ago season lead (+76% - 413,000 vs. 234,000).

For the week, "ABC World News" defeated the "CBS Evening News" by 1.267 million Total Viewers, 494,000 Adults 25-54 and 357,000 Adults 18-49.

NOTE: Due to the "Emmy Awards," "NBC Nightly News" was retitled on Monday (8/25/14) and was excluded from the program averages. NBC's weekly averages are based on four days (Tues-Fri).

"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: HYPERLINK "https://twitter.com/" l "!/dianesawyer" @DianeSawyer; HYPERLINK "https://twitter.com/" l "!/abcworldnews" @ABCWorldNews; HYPERLINK "https://www.facebook.com/DianeSawyer" facebook.com/DianeSawyer; HYPERLINK "http://www.facebook.com/WorldNews" facebook.com/WorldNews.

EVENING NEWS (Week of August 25, 2014)

TOTAL VIEWERS
ADULTS 25-54
ADULTS 18-49
HOUSEHOLDS
ABC WORLD NEWS
7,383,000
1.6/7; 1,942,000
1.1/5; 1,345,000
5.0/11
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
7,423,000
1.4/6; 1,671,000
1.0/5; 1,242,000
5.0/11
CBS EVENING NEWS
6,116,000
1.2/5; 1,448,000
0.4/4; 988,000
4.1/ 9

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD weeks of 8/25/14, 8/18/14 and 8/26/13. Most Current: 2013-2014 Season (9/23/13 - 8/31/14) and 2012-2013 Season (9/24/12 - 9/1/13). Averages based on regular telecasts.