For the sixth week in a row, “World News Tonight with David Muir” stood as the No. 1 program in Total Viewers (8.187 million) on all of broadcast and cable (excluding sports) during the week of May 18, 2026, based on Live+Same Day Big Data Plus Panel Program Ratings from Nielsen Media Research.
- “World News Tonight” ranked as the No. 1 newscast across broadcast and cable in Total Viewers (8.187 million), Adults 25-54 (966,000) and Adults 18-49 (727,000).
- “World News Tonight” outperformed “NBC Nightly News” (6.093 million, 867,000 and 639,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+34%/+2.094 million), Adults 25-54 (+11%/+99,000) and Adults 18-49 (+14%/+88,000).
- “World News Tonight” widened its Total Viewers margins over “NBC Nightly News” both week to week (+9% – 2.094 million vs. 1.919 million) and year to year (+37% – 2.094 million vs. 1.524 million).
- “World News Tonight” posted increases on the previous week across the board: Total Viewers (+4%/+298,000 – 8.187 million vs. 7.899 million), Adults 25-54 (+4,000 –966,000 vs. 962,000) and Adults 18-49 (+3%/+18,000 –727,000 vs. 709,000).
- “World News Tonight” improved on the year-ago week in Total Viewers (+11%/+779,000 – 8.187 million vs. 7.408 million), Adults 25-54 (+2,000 –966,000 vs. 964,000) and Adults 18-49 (+1%/+6,000 –727,000 vs. 721,000). In addition, “World News Tonight” turned in year–to-year gains in overall viewers and in the key Adult news demo for the last 12 weeks.
- “World News Tonight” (8.187 million, 966,000 and 727,000, respectively) outperformed “CBS Evening News” (4.035 million, 605,000 and 398,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+104%/+4.152 million), Adults 25-54 (+59%/+358,000) and Adults 18-49 (+81%/+326,000).
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
- Nightly News wins the key A2-54 demo on Tuesday
- Nightly News delivers its best streak of year-over-year growth in the demo since November 2008
- Nightly News marks 16 weeks of across-the-board growth vs. last year
- Nightly News delivers its best streak of year-over-year growth for total viewers since August 2020
- Nightly News closes the year-over-year A25-54 gap vs ABC by 41%
- Nightly News continues to deliver its closest key demo gap vs. ABC in six years for the current season
- Nightly News is the only network evening newscast to grow its viewership across the board vs. last season