NBC Broadcast Tops ABC By Over 200,000 Demo Viewers For 7th Time in 9 Weeks

Nightly Draws Biggest Total Viewer Audience in Five Weeks

JANUARY 12, 2015 — In the first week of the new year, “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” drew record-high ratings among both total viewers and younger demos A25-54 and A18-49.  Nightly posted its biggest total viewer audience in five weeks (since week of 11/30/15) and biggest A25-54 and A18-49 audiences in seven weeks (since week of 11/16/15).

The NBC broadcast topped ABC by +225,000 viewers A25-54, marking the 7th time in the past 9 weeks that Nightly has won the key demo by over 200,000 viewers.  This is Nightly’s sixth consecutive demo victory and 27th in the 29 weeks since Holt was named anchor.  

Season-to-date, Nightly is the #1 evening newscast across the board and the only network to post growth in the A25-54 demo.  

NOTE: As of 12/28/15, Nielsen national ratings are based on an expanded sample known as “NPX,” which effectively doubles the size of the Nielsen panel through a combination of additional meters and HHs. While NPX is now the official currency of record, all data pre-12/28/15 remains based on the old sample — so year-to-year and other comparisons are versus pre-NPX data.

Weekly Highlights

• Nightly averaged 9.687 million total viewers, leading CBS Evening News by +1.481 million (+18%).
• Nightly averaged 2.418 million A25-54 viewers, outperforming ABC World News Tonight by +225,000 (+10%) and CBS Evening News by +437,000 (+22%).
• Nightly delivered a 2.04 A25-54 rating, +0.19 points ahead of ABC and +0.37 points more than CBS.
• Nightly averaged 1.779 million A18-49 viewers, +242,000 (+16%) more than ABC and +419,000 (+31%) more than CBS.
• Nightly delivered a 1.40 A18-49 rating, +0.19 points higher than ABC and +0.33 points better than CBS.

Season-to-Date Highlights

• Nightly averages 8.931 million total viewers, +293,000 (+3%) ahead of ABC and +1.503 million (+20%) more than CBS.
• Nightly averages 2.383 million A25-54 viewers, leading ABC by +189,000 (+10%) and CBS by +466,000 (+27%).
• Nightly has widened its A25-54 lead vs. ABC by 182,000 viewers versus last season (+189,000 lead this season vs. a +7,000 gap last year).  Nightly has also improved its A25-54 gap over CBS by 9% versus last season (466,000 lead this season vs. +429,000 a year ago).
• Nightly averages 1.561 million A18-49 viewers, outperforming ABC by +222,000 (+17%) and CBS by +416,000 (+36%).
• Nightly has widened its A18-49 advantages this season over both ABC (+71%) and CBS (+4%).

WEEK OF JANUARY 4-8, 2016

	Total Viewers	A25-54 Rating	A25-54 Viewers	A18-49 Rating	A18-49 Viewers
NBC	9.687	2.04	2.418	1.40	1.779
CBS	8.206	1.67	1.981	1.07	1.360
ABC	9.772	1.85	2.193	1.21	1.537

 

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