David Muir loses to Tom Llamas? NBC edges out ABC in battle of Nightly news shows as ratings race heats up

NBC Nightly News scored a rare win over ABC World News Tonight in the key 25–54 age group last week. This was NBC Nightly News’ first full weekly win in the 25–54 demographic in six years. NBC Nightly News averaged 992,000 viewers aged 25–54 for the week of Jan. 5–11.

ABC World News Tonight came a little behind with 989,000 viewers in the 25–54 age group. The gap between NBC and ABC was very small, so the competition was very close, according to The New York Times. ABC World News Tonight, hosted by David Muir, still stayed No. 1 overall in total viewers. The show got just over 8 million viewers for the week.

Overall TV news viewership

NBC Nightly News, hosted by Tom Llamas, had about 6.7 million total viewers. CBS Evening News stayed in third place with around 4.2 million viewers. NBC executives said that NBC Nightly News has reduced ABC’s lead by 15% compared to last year. CBS Evening News is going through big changes under its new anchor Tony Dokoupil.


Despite the changes, CBS Evening News continues to trail far behind ABC and NBC. CBS Evening News attracted about 533,000 viewers in the 25–54 demographic last week. This came even after a heavily promoted relaunch led by new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, as mentioned in the report by New York Times. CBS News said the first week with Tony Dokoupil performed better than the show’s season average.

CBS digital growth boost

CBS News said gains were seen in both total viewers and the 25–54 age group. The CBS broadcast faced early problems, including a teleprompter error on Monday. Later in the week, an emotional on-air moment also drew attention. Despite these issues, CBS News reported a big jump in digital performance. CBS Evening News saw triple-digit growth in article traffic during the week.

YouTube viewership for CBS Evening News also surged sharply. NBC’s demo win was helped by a heavy breaking news cycle during the week. NBC beat ABC for three straight nights among viewers aged 24–54 starting Jan. 5, asnoted by New York Times. Major stories during the week included U.S. military action in Venezuela. Coverage also focused on the capture of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

Another major story was the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. ABC World News Tonight has dominated total ratings since 2015. ABC took the lead after ending NBC’s long-running winning streak that year. NBC controlled the 25–54 demographic for 12 straight seasons from 2006–2007 through 2018–2019.

ABC began winning the key demo starting in the 2019–2020 season. ABC expanded its advantage in the 25–54 age group through much of 2020 to 2024. Now, NBC’s latest demo win suggests the nightly news ratings battle is heating up again.

FAQs

Q1. Did NBC Nightly News beat ABC World News Tonight in ratings?

Yes, NBC briefly won the key 25–54 age group, but ABC still leads in total viewers.

Q2. Is David Muir losing to Tom Llamas overall?

No, ABC remains No. 1 overall, though NBC is closing the gap in younger viewers.