ABC’s “World News Tonight With David Muir” completed its 10th consecutive season as America’s most-watched evening newscast — and ranked as the most-watched program of the week across broadcast and cable television for 32 of the season’s 51 weeks, more than any other show.
The newscast averaged 8.4 million viewers during the 2025-26 broadcast TV season, up 6% from the previous year and its largest audience in five years, according to Nielsen Most Current Big Data + Panel measurement.
“World News Tonight” won all 51 measured weeks in total viewers. During 32 of those weeks, it ranked first across broadcast and cable — including sports — giving it more weekly No. 1 finishes than any other program.
The show’s dominance is a rare feat especially given the broader declines on traditional linear television. “World News Tonight” isn’t just extending its evening news streak — it’s growing on linear and digital and leading regulardly, which is a pretty unusual position in a fragmented market.
“In these times, to have a newscast that is growing in viewers and has now been No. 1 for a decade speaks to the deep connection David has built with the audience,” ABC News President Almin Karamehmedovic told TheWrap. “The team cuts through the noise every night, but most importantly, you can’t hide David’s bond with the viewers when he’s traveling the country and when he celebrates those small-town victories at the end of the program. We need that more than ever.”
NBC’s “Nightly News” averaged 6.5 million viewers, while the “CBS Evening News” drew a hair over 4 million. ABC’s nearly 1.8 million-viewer lead over NBC was its largest in 31 years, dating back to the 1994-95 season, when the late Peter Jennings anchored the broadcast.
Its advantage of more than 4.3 million viewers over CBS was its largest in at least 34 years, according to Nielsen’s electronic database, which began in September 1991.
ABC’s gains were not limited to linear TV. Weeknight episodes released on YouTube during the season averaged 1.1 million views, an increase of 24% year over year, according to platform data provided to TheWrap.
The YouTube totals represent cumulative views per uploaded episode and are not directly comparable to Nielsen’s average linear audience. But they indicate that ABC is also building an on-demand audience for a newscast traditionally tied to its 6:30 p.m. time slot.
“World News Tonight” content also generated 3.18 billion views across social platforms during the season, up 13% year over year. The broadcast added 3 million net new followers and now has a total following of approximately 16 million across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Threads and X, according to Sprout Social data provided to TheWrap.
ABC has now led the evening news competition in total viewers for 10 consecutive seasons, beginning with the 2016-17 season. It has ranked first in total viewers and among adults 25-54 — the advertiser-preferred TV news demographic — for seven straight seasons.
The competition was closer among adults 25-54. ABC averaged under 1.1 million viewers in the key demo, just 101,000 more than NBC’s 947,000.
NBC narrowed that gap during Tom Llamas’ first full season as anchor and managing editor of “Nightly News.” According to NBC’s analysis of Nielsen data, the broadcast grew 12% among adults 25-54 and delivered its largest audience in the demographic in two years.
“Nightly News” won seven weeks and more than 35 individual broadcasts in the demographic while narrowing its seasonal gap with ABC to its closest margin in seven years.
The results show that ABC’s overall evening news lead remains substantial and is extending to digital platforms. NBC’s growth in the demographic, however, makes the competition for younger TV news viewers considerably closer than the headline total audience gap suggests.
The 2025-26 season data cover regularly titled broadcasts from Sept. 22, 2025, through Sept. 13, 2026, and are based on Nielsen’s Most Current Big Data + Panel ratings.
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