With Thanksgiving in the rearview, the first week of December saw a total viewer bump for all three evening newscasts. News of President Joe Biden pardoning son Hunter Biden as well as the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson were the top stories in an active news week.
Excluding sports, ABC World News with David Muir was the most-watched program on all broadcast and cable channels. There was also good news for CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell, which saw double-digit gains in the Adults 25-54 demo. NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt was the only broadcast that saw a week-to-week viewership dip in the demo.
Note: The weekly averages of ABC World News Tonight, CBS News, and NBC News are based on four days (Monday to Thursday). Friday’s (12/06/24) ABC News’ broadcast was retitled to WNT-ABC, CBS News’ broadcast was retitled to CBS Evening Nws, and NBC News’ was retitled to NBC Nitely News. These broadcasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages.
WNT averaged 7.896 million total viewers and 1.078 A25-54 viewers for respective gains of +3% and +7% compared to the previous week. Looking at its performance alongside the same week in 2023 (the week beginning Dec. 4), WNT was up +1% in total viewers and +3% in the demo.
NBC Nightly News was No. 2 in total viewers and the demo, averaging 6.339 million viewers and 929,000 viewers in those respective categories. Week-to-week, the newscast ticked upwards by +2% in total viewers, but downwards by -1% in the demo. Year-to-year, Nightly News was down -6% in the former category and -9% in the latter.
CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell saw 4.699 million total viewers and 696,000 viewers for respective gains of +7% and +25% relative to the week prior. Compared to 2023, it was down by -2% in total viewers, but up by 8% in the demo.
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
| • Total Viewers: | 7,896,000 | 6,339,000 | 4,669,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,078,000 | 929,000 | 696,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 12/2/24), Previous Week (w/o 11/25/24) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 12/4/23). Most Current Data Stream: 2024-2025 Season (9/23 – 12/8/24) and 2023-2024 Season (9/25 – 11/1023). Nielsen ratings for ABC, NBC and CBS include additional airings in select markets. Beginning 8/31/20, national ratings also include Out of Home (OOH) viewing. Averages based on regular telecasts.
