Week of Dec. 8 Evening News Ratings: Newscasts See Declines

The three night broadcasts posted week-to-week declines in each complete viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo for the week of December 8.

ABC World News Tonight continued to be America’s most-watched newscast in each measured classes, ending because the top-rated broadcast for the tenth 12 months in a row in complete viewers.

One fascinating tidbit concerning WNT’s dominance, season so far, its lead over CBS Evening News is the biggest in complete viewers in at the very least 34 years, because the 1991-1992 season, when Nielsen’s digital database started.

According to nationwide dwell+same-day huge knowledge plus program scores from Nielsen, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir averaged 7.867 million complete viewers and 1 million Adults 25-54 demo viewers for the week of December 8. The night newscast was down by -5% in complete viewers and -6% within the A25-54 demo in comparison with the earlier week. Looking at its efficiency for a similar week in 2024* (the week starting December 9), WNT was flat in complete viewers however down -8% within the demo.

NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas was in second place in complete viewers and the demo, averaging 6.432 million and 854,000 viewers, respectively. The broadcast was down -3% in complete viewers and -5% within the A25-54 demo. When evaluating its efficiency to the identical week a 12 months in the past*, Nightly News was up +2% in complete viewers however down -4% within the demo—it was the one night newscast with year-over-year features in both of the measured classes.

CBS Evening News had 4.152 million complete viewers and 528,000 viewers within the demo for the week of December 8. The broadcast was down -5% in complete viewers and within the demo in comparison with the earlier week. Its year-ago week numbers* confirmed the newscast drop by -11% in complete viewers and -23% within the demo—the one morning present with double-digit declines inside this comparability.  

*Please observe that year-over-year comparisons are based mostly on Nielsen Big Data+Panel (2025) vs. Panel (2024) measurements.

Source: Nielsen, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54, and Adults 18-49 National Live + Same Day Big Data Plus Panel Program Ratings. Current Week (w/o 12/8/25), Previous Week (w/o 12/1/25), and Year-Ago Week (w/o 12/9/24). Season so far: Most Current Data Stream: 2025-2026 Season (9/22 – 12/14/25) and 2024-2025 Season (9/23 – 12/15/24).