Despite its dominant position in the evening news ratings race, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir was the only broadcast to record a decline in either total viewers or the Adults 25-54 demo for the week of June 1.
WNT was down in total viewers but, like its competitors, NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas and CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil, posted week-to-week gains in the demo. In addition, Nightly News and CBS Evening News had strong performances in the advertiser-coveted demo, each recording double-digit gains. Also, Nightly News closed the gap with WNT to less than 100,000 demo viewers.
Note: The weekly averages of ABC News, CBS News, and NBC News are based on different periods: ABC News’ average is based on one day (Monday), while CBS News’ and NBC News’ averages are based on four days (Monday – Thursday). On Tuesday (6/2/26), Wednesday (06/03/25), Thursday (6/04/26), and Friday (06/05/26), WNT was retitled to WNT-ABC. On Friday, CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News were retitled to CBS Evening Nws and NBC Nitely News, respectively. These broadcasts were excluded from the weekly and season averages.
According to national live+same-day big data plus program ratings from Nielsen, ABC World News Tonight averaged 7.66 million total viewers and 974,000 Adults 25-54 demo viewers for the week of June 1. The evening newscast was down by -2% among total viewers but grew by +1% among A25-54 viewers compared to the previous week. Looking at its performance during the same week in 2025* (the week beginning June 2), WNT was up +9% in total viewers and +7% in the demo.
NBC Nightly News was No. 2 in total viewers and the demo, averaging 6.304 million and 892,000 viewers, respectively. Compared to the previous week, Nightly News was up by +6% in total viewers and +12% in the demo. It trailed GMA by just 82,000 demo viewers. When comparing its performance to the same week a year ago, Nightly News was up by +16% in total viewers and the demo.
CBS Evening News finished the week of June 1 with 3.814 million total viewers and 560,000 demo viewers. CBS News’ newscast grew by +1% in total viewers and +14% in the demo compared to the previous week. Its year-ago week numbers showed the newscast losing viewers by -2% among total viewers but gaining them by +8% in the demo — the only evening broadcast with declines in both measured categories within this yearly comparison.
*Please note that year-over-year comparisons are based on Nielsen Big Data+Panel (2026) vs. Panel (2025) measurements.
June 1, 2026 (Nielsen Big Data + Panel):
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
| • Total Viewers: | 7,660,000 | 6,304,000 | 3,814,000 |
| • A25-54: | 974,000 | 892,000 | 560,000 |
