Nightly More Than Doubles its A25-54 Advantage over ABC for the Quarter YOY

Viewers Turn to Lester Holt for Breaking News in Cuba and Brussels as NBC Posts Best Week Since December 2015 and Largest Week-to-Week Increase Among the Networks

NEW YORK (March 29, 2016) – “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” ranked as the #1 evening newscast in total viewers and all categories for the 1st quarter of 2016, winning its third straight quarter across-the-board. Nightly also claimed the top spot for the week of March 21-25, 2016, winning every day in a week that saw Lester Holt anchoring from Havana, Brussels and New York City.

The NBC broadcast is #1 in total viewers for 33 of the last 34 quarters and 71 of the last 77 quarters. Nightly also extended its winning streak in the key A25-54 demo, winning its third straight quarter and 29th of the last 32 quarters. In that demo, Nightly more than doubled its advantage over ABC versus the 1st quarter of 2015 (+194%). This marks the third consecutive quarter that Nightly improved its advantage over ABC in A25-54.

“NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” was also #1 across-the-board for the week of March 21-25, 2016. In a week of President Obama’s historic visit to Cuba and terror attacks in Brussels, Nightly averaged 8.73 million total viewers, outperforming ABC by +557,000 (+7%) and CBS by +1.67 million (+24%). Nightly delivered its widest margin over ABC in 13 weeks (since December 21, 2015) and posted the largest week-to-week increase in total viewers among the evening newscasts (+4%). On Tuesday, as news unfolded following the attacks in Belgium, more viewers turned to NBC Nightly News than any other newscast – delivering a 461,000 total viewer gap over ABC and 1.653 million total viewers over CBS.

Nightly has been #1 in total viewers for 7 consecutive weeks and 37 of the 40 weeks since Holt was named anchor. The NBC broadcast averaged 2.1 million A25-54 viewers and has won that demo for 35 consecutive weeks, widening its lead over ABC for the third straight week.

NOTE: Nightly is based on a 4-day average (Mon-Thu) while ABC is based on a 5-day average (Mon-Fri) and CBS is based on a 3-day average (Mon-Wed).

Weekly Highlights:

• Nightly averaged 8.73 million total viewers, outperforming ABC by +557,000 total viewers and CBS by +1.67 million.
• Nightly posted its widest total viewer advantage over ABC in 13 weeks (since December 21, 2015).
• Nightly averaged 2.1 million A25-54 viewers, +276,000 (+15%) higher than ABC and +455,000 (+28%) more than CBS.
• Nightly averaged 1.5 million A18-49 viewers, leading ABC by +220,000 (+17%) and CBS by +355,000 (+31%).
• The NBC broadcast is #1 in A18-49 viewers for 35 consecutive weeks, with Nightly’s largest A18-49 advantage over ABC since the week of January 25, 2016.

Q1 Highlights:

• Nightly won its 3rd straight quarter, it’s 33rd of the last 34 quarters and 71st of the last 77 quarters. It averaged 9.208 million total viewers, outperforming ABC by +165,000 and CBS by +1.491 million.
• Nightly averaged 2.274 A25-54 viewers, +209,000 higher than ABC and +431,000 more than CBS.
• Nightly averaged 1.652 million A18-49 viewers, leading ABC by +186,000 and CBS by +385,000.
• Compared to 1Q 2015, Nightly improved its A25-54 gap over BC by 194%.

Week of March 21-25, 2016:

	Total Viewers	A25-54 Rating	A25-54 Viewers	A18-49 Rating	A18-49 Viewers
NBC	8.725	1.76	2.096	1.18	1.500
CBS	7.055	1.38	1.641	0.90	1.145
ABC	8.168	1.53	1.820	1.01	1.280

For more information contact:

Jake Urbanski
NBC News
o: (212) 664-3211
c: (646) 823-2133
e: jake.urbanski@nbcuni.com

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ABOUT NBC NIGHTLY NEWS WITH LESTER HOLT

“NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” 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 over 24 million people every week through its broadcast and millions more through NBCNews.com, the “Nightly News” app, and social media platforms. Lester Holt is the anchor and Sam Singal is the executive producer.

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