NBC, Fox News, CNN: Ratings Winners

NBC News, Fox News Channel and CNN all had reasons to crow about last week's ratings.

"NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt" won the evening news race every which way.

The Holt newscast had the most viewers: 8.277 million. It topped "ABC World News Tonight With David Muir" (8.032 million) and the "CBS Evening News With Scott Pelley" (6.967 million). NBC has won in total viewers for 12 straight weeks and 42 of the 45 since Holt was named anchor.

According to The Orlando Sentinel, all three newscasts pointed to progress: From the same week last year, NBC was up 7 percent, ABC was up 4 percent, and CBS was up 6 percent.

In the 25-to-54 age group, which is most important to news advertisers, NBC averaged 1.942 million to ABC's 1.740 million and CBS' 1.557 million. NBC was up 13 percent in that count, and CBS was up 8 percent.

In the 18-to-49 age group, NBC was tops with 1.414 million to ABC's 1.255 million and CBS' 1.026 million.

In cable news prime time, Fox News had the most viewers, and CNN had the most 25-to-54 viewers. Fox News averaged 2.035 million to CNN's 1.246 million and MSNBC's 855,000.

In all of basic cable, Fox News was the most-watched for the total day and No. 2 in prime time behind TNT, which had NBA games.

CNN highlighted that it won the 25-to-54 age group in prime time for the third consecutive week. CNN has pulled off that feat only three times in the last 15 years.

The prime-time averages in the 25-to-54 age group: CNN with 382,000, Fox News with 360,000 and MSNBC with 223,000.

There are three weeks left in the TV season, and CBS continues to hold a slight lead among adults 18-49.

The network has a one-tenth lead over NBC for first place in the demo this season, thanks entirely to February’s Super Bowl. Toss out that game, and the two would be neck and neck.

Through Sunday, the latest numbers available, CBS has averaged a 2.3 18-49 rating, according to Nielsen. NBC is right behind with a 2.2. Fox is a distant third with a 1.9, off a tenth from last year. ABC is in fourth with a 1.8, and it’s fallen the most from last year, down 18 percent from last year.

The season ends on May 25. That means CBS just needs to hang on to its position for 21 days to get just its second season-long victory among 18-49s in more than two decades.