‘ABC World News Tonight' reclaims No. 1 spot atop rivals NBC and CBS, Nielsen ratings show
David Muir's program notched an impressive Nielsen ratings victory for the week of Jan. 19, generating a total audience of 9 million viewers.
nypost.comHere’s a quick snapshot of recent ratings for NBC, ABC, and CBS Evening News based on Nielsen data reported in April 2026.
- ABC World News Tonight (ABC): around 8.4 million total viewers for the week of April 6, 2026, leading the pack. This places ABC roughly 2 million ahead of NBC Nightly News and over 4.6 million ahead of CBS Evening News.[1][3]
- NBC Nightly News (NBC): about 6.4–6.5 million total viewers for the same period, with a softer performance in key demos compared to ABC. The demo figures hovered around 900k–1.0 million in the 25–54 range, behind ABC.[3][1]
- CBS Evening News (CBS): roughly 3.8–4.6 million total viewers depending on the week, consistently behind ABC and NBC in overall audience but showing some week-to-week variability in total and 25–54 demos.[1][3]
Notes and context
- The latest widely cited weekly ratings show ABC maintaining a clear lead in total viewers and 25–54 demo during early April 2026, with NBC and CBS trailing, and occasional fluctuations from week to week.[3][1]
- Earlier weeks in 2026 also showed ABC reclaiming or sustaining top spots in several Nielsen reports, though NBC and CBS occasionally topped in specific demos or weeks depending on events and anchor changes.[2][4]
Illustration example
- If you’d like, I can assemble a compact chart showing total viewers and 25–54 demos for all three programs across the most recent four weeks to visualize the trend. This would help compare who led in each metric over time.
Would you like me to pull a four-week chart and provide a small table summarizing the latest weekly numbers for each evening newscast? I can also include notes on any notable events (anchor changes, breaking news weeks) that might have influenced the results.