The evening newscasts closed out winter and entered spring with some good news, as all three recorded no viewership losses in total viewers or the Adults 25-54 demo for the week of March 16.
ABC World News Tonight with David Muir and CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil each experienced week-to-week gains in both measured categories.
WNT is currently on a hot streak with its largest overall viewer lead over NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas dating back to April 13, 2020. The Muir-led news program widened its lead over Nightly News by double-digit percentage points in total viewers (+17%) and the Adults 25-54 demo (+43%).
Meanwhile, CBS News’ broadcast had a healthy bounceback, finishing with more than four million total viewers for the just-concluded week. However, it continued to fall further behind WNT, extending the viewership distance by triple-digit percentages for the sixth straight week in total viewers (-112%) and the demo (-107%).
Note: The weekly averages of CBS Evening News are based on three days (Monday-Wednesday). Thursday’s (03/19/26) and Friday’s (03/20/26) broadcasts were retitled to CBS Evening Nws. These broadcasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages.
According to national live+same-day big data plus program ratings from Nielsen, ABC World News Tonight averaged 8.821 million total viewers and 1.102 million Adults 25-54 demo viewers for the week of March 16. The evening newscast was up by +4% among total viewers and +7% among A25-54 viewers compared to the previous week. Looking at its performance during the same week in 2025* (the week beginning March 17), WNT was up +17% in total viewers and +6% in the demo.
NBC Nightly News was the No. 2 newscast in total viewers and the demo, averaging 6.518 million and 978,000 viewers, respectively. Compared to the previous week, Nightly News was flat in total viewers and grew by +3% in the demo. When comparing its performance to the same week a year ago, Nightly News was up by +7% in total viewers and +14% in the demo.
CBS Evening News finished the week of March 16 with 4.166 million total viewers and 533,000 viewers in the demo. CBS News’ newscast had gains of +8% in total viewers and +14% in the demo compared to the previous week. Its year-ago week numbers showed the newscast growing by +3% in total viewers but tumbling by -12% in the demo—the only broadcast with declines within this yearly comparison.
*Please note that year-over-year comparisons are based on Nielsen Big Data+Panel (2025) vs. Panel (2025) measurements.
March 16, 2026
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
| • Total Viewers: | 8,821,000 | 6,518,000 | 4,166,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,102,000 | 978,000 | 533,000 |
