Wins the Week in Key A25-54 and A18-49 Demos

#1 in A25-54 for 12 Straight Seasons; #1 in A18-49 for 23 Consecutive Seasons

September 17, 2019 – NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt is #1 in A25-54 and A18-49 for another straight week and season to date, according to Nielsen Media Research. NBC News’ signature newscast also delivers its strongest A25-54 advantage over ABC’s World News Tonight in 35 weeks and posts its best A25-54 weekly win streak in 30 weeks.

Nightly News averages 1.607 million viewers in the key A25-54 demo most valued by advertisers, topping ABC by +140,000 (+10%), marking its biggest lead over them in 35 weeks, and CBS by +692,000 (+76%). Nightly News also leads the competitive set in the younger A18-49 demo, averaging 1.102 million in A18-49, +57,000 (+5%) more than ABC and +453,000 (+70%) more than CBS.

All this week, Nightly News is presenting special reports on climate as part of the network’s “Climate in Crisis” series.  It kicked off Monday with Holt’s piece from Alaska, showing the physical changes of the glaciers since he spent time there as a young boy. During the previous week, Holt took an in-depth look at the 25^th anniversary of the 1994 Crime Bill, a “Justice for All” segment.

WEEK OF SEPT. 9, 2019:

Nightly News ranks #1 among A25-54 and A18-49 viewers

Nightly averages 1.607 million A25-54 viewers, ahead of ABC by +140,000 (+10%) and CBS by +692,000 (+76%)   

• Strongest lead over ABC among A25-54 in 35 weeks (since week of 1/7/19)
• Vs. prior week, Nightly is down the least by -4% while ABC is down -8% and CBS is down -18%

Nightly averages 1.102 million A18-49 viewers, ahead of ABC by +57,000 (+5%) and CBS by +453,000 (+70%)

• Vs. prior week, Nightly is down -7% while ABC is down -6% and CBS is down -16%

In total viewers, Nightly also closes the gap with ABC to its closest level in 22 weeks (since week of 4/8/19)

Program	P25-54 Imps	P18-49 Imps	P2+ Imps
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS	1.607	1.102	7.557
CBS EVENING NEWS	0.915	0.649	5.018
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT	1.467	1.045	8.089

NOTE: ABC was rated based on a 4-day week due to the retitling of World News Tonight on Thursday for the Democratic debate. Nightly News ratings are comprised of telecasts with regular titling and include overnight airings on owned stations.

2018-19 SEASON TO DATE:

Nightly News is the #1 evening newscast this season in A25-54 and A18-49

Among A25-54 viewers:

• Nightly leads ABC by +25,000 (+1%) and CBS by +572,000 (+49%)
• Nightly is #1 among A25-54 viewers at this point of the season for the 12^th consecutive season

Among A18-49 viewers

• Nightly leads ABC by +19,000 (+2%) and CBS by +346,000 (+42%)
• Nightly is #1 among A18-49 viewers at this point of the season for the 23^rd consecutive season

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NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt is the most-watched evening newscast in America among the key news demo, and reaches over 24 million people every week through its broadcast and millions more through NBCNews.com, the Nightly News app, The Nightly newsletter and social media platforms. The broadcast provides the latest on the day’s top stories, going beyond the headlines to uncover how people’s lives are affected by the world around them. Lester Holt is the anchor, and was named the most-trusted television news personality in America, according to The Hollywood Reporter/Morning Consult 2018 survey.  Jennifer Suozzo is the executive producer.

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For more information, contact:

Dana Klinghoffer
NBC News
212.664.4088
dana.klinghoffer@nbcuni.com