TV Ratings: ABC's World News Captures Top 5 Spots On Broadcast, Cable

ABC's David Muir

ABC News’ “World News Tonight with David Muir” was the most-watched program in America on all of broadcast and cable television for the week of May 4, 2020, based on Live + Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research.

“World News Tonight” claimed the Top 5 programs in Total Viewers with its Wednesday (10.592 million – No. 1), Monday (10.288 million – No. 2), Thursday (9.970 million – No. 3), Friday (9.716 million – No. 4) and Tuesday (9.665 million – No. 5) airings, respectively.

‘World News Tonight’ placed three programs in the top 10 on all American television among Adults 25-54 and two programs in top 10 in Adults 18-49 for the week. All week “World News Tonight” dedicated newscasts to coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak. Anchor David Muir interviewed President Donald Trump on Tuesday, which was the #1 program in Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 on all broadcast and cable that night.

For the first time in 24 years, “World News Tonight” is America’s No. 1 newscast in Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 season to date —since the 1995-1996 season.

“60 Minutes” managed to win the week’s Prime-Time ratings competition and attract the attention of President Donald Trump on the same week, The Associated Press is reporting citing Nielsen data.

With 9.5 million viewers Sunday, “60 Minutes” was easily the week’s most-watched prime-time program, the Nielsen company said. The newsmagazine has been dominated by stories on the coronavirus pandemic the past two months. Its audience this past weekend was 22% larger than the same week a year ago.

Correspondent Scott Pelley’s lead story was about a virologist whose federal funding to study the disease’s origins was suddenly cut in what the show concluded was a deceptive political campaign to tie the project to a lab in Wuhan, China.

With the weather getting warmer and stay-at-home orders no longer novel, television viewership in general is fading.

CBS was the most popular network in prime time last week, averaging 4.4 million viewers. NBC was second with 2.9 million, ABC had 2.7 million, Fox had 1.9 million, Univision had 1.03 million, ION Television had 1.01 million, Telemundo had 570,000 and the CW had 490,000.

⏩ Broadcast TV Top 20 Prime-Time Show (Total Audience):

1. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 9.53 million.
2. “Survivor,” CBS, 7.59 million.
3. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 7.38 million.
4. “The Masked Singer,” Fox, 7.29 million.
5. “NCIS,” CBS, 7.2 million.
6. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 7.18 million.
7. “911,” Fox, 7 million.
8. “Bull,” CBS, 6.88 million.
9. “Magnum, P.I.” (Friday, 9 p.m.), CBS, 6.87 million.
10. “The Neighborhood” (Monday, 8 p.m.), CBS, 6.55 million.

11. “FBI: Most Wanted,” CBS, 6.62 million.
12. “The Neighborhood” (Monday, 8:30 p.m.), CBS, 6.55 million.
13. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 6.45 million.
14. “FBI,” CBS, 6.34 million.
15. “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” ABC, 6.2 million.
16. “American Idol” ABC, 6.16 million.
17. “Man With a Plan,” CBS, 6.1 million.
18. “Magnum, P.I.” (Friday, 10 p.m.), 6.09 million.
19. “The Conners,” ABC, 6.05 million.
20. “MacGyver,” CBS, 5.77 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” led the evening newscasts with an average of 10 million viewers last week. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 9 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.4 million.

However, TV Newser reports World News Tonight shed viewers versus the prior week. According to the most-current Nielsen data for the week of May 4, ABC’s evening newscast was -5% in Total Viewers and -6% in A25-54 viewers versus the week of April 27.

The NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt finished in second place across the board for the fifth consecutive week. Nightly News was still the third-most-watched program on television last week (excluding syndication), averaging nearly 9 million viewers in total.

Compared to the same week in 2019, Nightly News was +20% in Total Viewers and +14% in the key demo. Compared to the previous week in 2020, Nightly ratings were less than great: -6% in Total Viewers and -12% in the key A25-54 demo.

The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell was among the top four telecasts for CBS last week.

According to Nielsen data, Evening News averaged 6.4 million total viewers and 1.16 million A25-54 viewers last week. However, including the new 4 a.m. re-air, CBS says its evening newscast brought in a gross audience of 6.855 million total viewers and 1.31 million A25-54 viewers. As of now, Nielsen does not take that 4 a.m. re-air into account in its reporting.

CBS Evening News’ ratings are comprised of telecasts with regular titling and include overnight airings on owned stations.

Fox News Channel led the cable networks with an average of 3.42 million in prime time. MSNBC was second with 1.8 million, CNN had 1.48 million, TLC had 1.29 million and HGTV had 1.28 million.