ABC World News Tonight with David Muir returned to its usual first-place position in both total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo for the week of August 10.
WNT retook the demo lead over NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas, courtesy of an additional 130,000 viewers. The bounce-back was significant, considering that the week prior, Nightly News secured the top spot with the help of 26,000 additional demo viewers.
ABC News’ evening flagship news program got more good news, as it was the only one to post week-to-week gains in both measured categories. Nightly News was the only one to lose viewers in both measurements.
Note: NBC Nightly News’ weekly average is based on four days (Monday-Thursday), while the weekly averages of ABC World News Tonight and CBS Evening News are based on three days (Monday-Wednesday). Friday’s edition (08/14/26) of NBC News’ broadcast was retitled to NBC Nitely News. Thursday’s (08/13/2026) and Friday’s ABC News and CBS News broadcasts were retitled to WNT-ABC and CBS Evening Nws, respectively. 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 8.436 million total viewers and 1.162 million Adults 25-54 demo viewers for the week of Aug. 10. The evening newscast was up +1% among total viewers and +12% among A25-54 viewers compared to the previous week. Looking at its performance during the same week in 2025* (the week beginning Aug. 11), WNT was up +20% in total viewers and +25% in the demo.
NBC Nightly News was No. 2 in total viewers and the demo, averaging 6.611 million and 999,000 viewers, respectively. Compared to the previous week, Nightly News was down -1% in total viewers and -6% in the demo—the only evening newscast with losses in both measured categories. However, when comparing its performance to the same week a year ago, Nightly News was up +16% in total viewers and +29% in the demo.
CBS Evening News finished the week of Aug. 10 with 3.785 million total viewers and 521,000 demo viewers. CBS News’ newscast was down -3% in total viewers but up +1% in the demo compared to the previous week. Its year-ago week numbers showed CBS Evening News gaining +1% among total viewers and staying flat in the demo.
*Please note that year-over-year comparisons are based on Nielsen Big Data+Panel (2026) vs. Panel (2025) measurements.
August 10, 2026 (Nielsen Big Data + Panel):
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
| • Total Viewers: | 8,436,000 | 6,611,000 | 3,785,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,162,000 | 999,000 | 521,000 |
