For the 20th consecutive week, “World News Tonight with David Muir” ranked as the No. 1 program in Total Viewers (8.731 million) on all of broadcast and cable (excluding sports) during the week of Aug 24, 2026, based on Live+Same Day Big Data Plus Panel Program Ratings from Nielsen Media Research.
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| Ratings Graphic Courtesy of RoadMN |
- “World News Tonight with David Muir” stood as the No. 1 newscast in all of broadcast and cable in Total Viewers (8.731 million), Adults 25-54 (1.219 million) and Adults 18-49 (876,000).
- “World News Tonight” outperformed “NBC Nightly News” (7.052 million, 1.070 million and 800,000, respectively) by double digits in Total Viewers (+24%/+1.679 million), Adults 25-54 (+14%/+149,000) and Adults 18-49 (+10%/+76,000).
- “World News Tonight” improved week to week in all key target demos: Total Viewers (+3%/+269,000 – 8.731 million vs. 8.462 million), Adults 25-54 (+15%/+160,000 – 1.219 million vs. 1.059 million) and Adults 18-49 (+7%/+60,000 –876,000 vs. 816,000). “World News Tonight” drew its largest overall audience in 5 months and scored its top news demo performance in more than 1 ½ years — since weeks of 3/16/26 and 1/13/25, respectively.
- “World News Tonight” grew by double digits on the year-ago week in Total Viewers (+19%/+1.402 million – 8.731 million vs. 7.239 million), Adults 25-54 (+35%/+316,000 – 1.219 million vs. 903,000) and Adults 18-49 (+40%/+252,000 – 876,000 vs. 624,000), seeing year-to-year increases for the eighth straight week.
- “World News Tonight” (8.731 million, 1.219 million and 876,000, respectively) more than doubled its lead over “CBS Evening News” (3.916 million, 531,000 and 351,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+123%/+4.815 million), Adults 25-54 (+130%/+688,000) and Adults 18-49 (+150%/+525,000). In fact, “World News Tonight” saw its largest Total Viewer lead over the CBS program in over 6 years and largest news demo margin in over 3 ½ years — since weeks of 4/13/20 and 12/19/22, respectively.