ABC Snaps NBC’s Five-Year Evening News Streak

ABC’s “World News Tonight” has in recent weeks challenged NBC’s “Nightly News” in the advertiser-coveted demo of people between the ages of 25 and 54. Now, reports Variety, for the first time in about half a decade, ABC has beaten NBC out for the most-watched evening newscast on broadcast television – as well as for viewers between 25 and 54 and viewers between the ages  of 18 and 49.

It marks the first time in 263 weeks that the NBC newscast has not been the most-viewed regularly scheduled evening newscast on TV.

“We’re proud of the quality of the broadcast we produce every night and the stories we tell,” NBC News said in a statement. ” In an increasingly complex world,’NBC Nightly News’ is the place our audience can turn for credible, authoritative news they can trust.”

But last week , more audiences turned to “World News Tonight,” which features anchor David Muir, who took over the chair from Diane Sawyer about a month ago.

According to Nielsen figures,  “World News” attracted an average of 8.416 million viewers last week, compared with an average of 8.25 million for “Nightly News” and an average of 6.614 million for CBS’  “CBS Evening News.” In the 25-to-54 demo, “World News” snared an average of 2.204 million viewers between 25 and 54, compared with an average of 1.937 million for “Nightly News” and an average of 1.602 million for “CBS Evening News.”

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