NBC Broadcast is #1 Across the Board with Highest Ratings Since February

Nightly is #1 Among Viewers A25-54 for 7th Time in 10 Weeks, Now Leading ABC by +7,000 Season-to-Date

Nightly Draws Over 10 Million Viewers a Night, Tops ABC by Nearly 800k for the Week

JANUARY 13, 2015 – During the week of the Paris terrorist attack and manhunt, more Americans turned to “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” than any other newscast.

The NBC broadcast was #1 in total viewers and all key demographics for the week of January 5-9, 2014, according to Nielsen Media Research data.  Nightly has now been #1 among viewers A25-54 in 7 of the past 10 weeks, and is leading ABC’s “World News Tonight” by +7,000 viewers A25-54 season-to-date.

Nightly drew its biggest audiences in total viewers, A25-54, and A18-49 since the first week of the Sochi Olympics (2/10/2014) and delivered its best demo win over ABC since the second week of the Sochi Olympics (2/17/14).  Over 10 million viewers watched the NBC broadcast each night of the week, including over 11 million viewers on both Tuesday and Wednesday.

Among the three network evening newscasts, Nightly posted the largest week-to-week growth across the board with double-digit increases in total viewers (+14%, or +1.341 million), A18-49 viewers (+33%, or +491,000), and A25-54 viewers (+27%, or +573,000).

Weekly Highlights:

• Nightly averaged 10.667 million total viewers, leading ABC World News Tonight by +8% (+786,000) and CBS Evening News by 23% (+2.011 million).
• This represents Nightly’s biggest total viewer audience since the first full week of the Sochi Olympics (week of 2/10/2014).
• Nightly averaged 2.657 million A25-54 viewers, +10% (+252,000) ahead of ABC and +30% (+613,000) more than CBS.
• This was Nightly’s largest demo audience since the week of 2/10/2014 (first full week of Sochi Olympics) and its widest advantage versus ABC since the week of 2/17/2014 (second full week of Sochi Olympics).
• Nightly averaged a 2.2 A25-54 rating, topping ABC by +2 tenths and CBS by +5 tenths.
• Nightly averaged 1.979 million A18-49 viewers, topping ABC by +16% (+267,000) and CBS by +41% (+571,000).
• This marks Nightly’s best A18-49 viewer gap over ABC in five weeks.
• Nightly delivered a 1.6 A18-49 rating, topping ABC by +3 tenths and CBS by +5 tenths.

Growth & Trends:

• Nightly has outperformed ABC by at least 500,000 viewers for 11 consecutive weeks and CBS by at least two million viewers in 12 of the last 14 weeks.
• Nightly saw double-digit growth versus the 4Q’14 average in total viewers (+17%, or +1.556 million), A18-49 viewers (+28%, or +428,000), and A25-54 viewers (+25%, or +535,000).
• Versus 4Q’14 levels, Nightly widened its gap versus ABC by 25% in total viewers and 112% among A18-49 viewers; in the A25-54 demo, Nightly posted a 3,250% turnaround from 4Q.
• Season-to-date, Nightly is #1 in total viewers, rating W/M/A18-49, and rating M/A25-54.
• Nightly has increased its total viewer audience by +1% (+111,000) versus the same STD period last year, posting its best start to a season in 9 years (since the 2005-06 season).
• Nightly has been #1 in total viewers for 278 consecutive weeks and in 325 of the last 326 weeks.

 

WEEK OF JANUARY 5-9, 2014

	Total Viewers	A25-54 Rating	A25-54 Viewers	A18-49 Rating	A18-49 Viewers
NBC	10.667	2.2	2.657	1.6	1.979
CBS	8.656	1.7	2.044	1.1	1.408
ABC	9.881	2.0	2.405	1.3	1.712

 

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NBC NIGHTLY NEWS WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS

“NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” is America’s most-watched evening newscast, going beyond the day’s headlines to uncover stories of how people’s lives are affected by the world around them. “NBC Nightly News” reaches nearly 10 million people every day through its broadcast and millions more through NBCNews.com, the “Nightly News” app, and social media platforms. Brian Williams is the anchor and managing editor and Patrick Burkey is the executive producer.

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