In war of nightly news shows, NBC notches win over ABC, CBS lags in third place: Nielsen ratings

“NBC Nightly News” notched a rare ratings win over longtime rival NBC World News Tonight” in the prized 25-54 demographic last week — as “CBS Evening News” fell further behind with new anchor Tony Dokoupil at the helm.

“NBC Nightly News” had its first fully rated weekly win in the key demo in six years, generating an average 992,000 viewers aged 25 to 54 for the week of Jan. 5-11. The figure narrowly topped ABC’s 989,000 viewers in the same demographic, according to Nielsen figures.

“ABC World News Tonight,” anchored by David Muir, maintained its first-place status in total viewership — though 30 Rock execs trumpeted that the Tom Llamas-helmed “NBC Nightly News” has closed the total viewership gap with its rival by 15% year-over year.

In terms of overall audience, “ABC World News Tonight” remained firmly in first place at just over 8 million viewers for the week, while “NBC Nightly News” averaged 6.7 million and “CBS Evening News” lagged at about 4.2 million.

“CBS Evening News,” which has undergone a full-scale overhaul under Dokoupil, continues to lag behind in third place.

CBS News’ nightly broadcast drew about 533,000 viewers in the 25–54 demo for the week — this despite a heavily promoted transition overseen by recently installed editor in chief Bari Weiss.

The network has pointed to early signs of momentum, noting that the Dokoupil-led broadcast’s first week exceeded the program’s season-to-date performance in both total audience and the 25-54 demo.

Despite early hiccups — including a teleprompter mishap on the Monday broadcast and a tear-filled on-screen episode days later — the network highlighted a sharp digital lift during the week, with “CBS Evening News” seeing triple-digit growth in article traffic and a surge in YouTube viewing.

NBC’s demo win was boosted by a busy breaking news cycle, with the broadcast overtaking ABC for three straight nights among 24- to 54-year-olds beginning Jan. 5.

The week was dominated by a series of high-stakes domestic and international stories led by US military action in Venezuela, the capture of deposed dictator Nicolás Maduro, and the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis.

“ABC World News Tonight” has dominated the ratings race since 2015, holding the lead in total viewership after ending NBC’s long-running ratings streak earlier that year.

NBC maintained its edge over ABC in the key 25-54 demographic through the 2018-2019 season — marking 12 consecutive seasons of demo dominance.

However, ABC began winning the demo starting in the 2019-2020 season and widened its advantage through much of 2020-2024.

The Post has sought comment from NBC News and CBS News. An ABC News spokesperson declined to comment.