The first week of February saw ABC World News Tonight with David Muir remain the most-watched evening newscast in total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo. However, it was the only broadcast to lose viewers when compared to the previous week in both measured categories.
NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas finished the week of February 2 as the only broadcast to see across-the-board viewership gains. It also significantly narrowed the demo viewership gap between it and WNT, with 50,000 demo viewers separating the two newscasts.
Note: The weekly averages of ABC World News and CBS Evening News are based on four days (Monday – Thursday). Friday’s (02/06/26) ABC News broadcast was retitled to WNT-ABC, while Friday’s CBS News’ broadcast was retitled to CBS Evening Nws. 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 8.987 million total viewers and 1.15 million Adults 25-54 demo viewers for the week of February 2. The evening newscast regressed by -3% in total viewers and the A25-54 demo compared to the previous week. Looking at its performance for the same week in 2025* (the week beginning February 3), WNT was up +10% in total viewers but saw a -2% fall in the demo.
NBC Nightly News finished second in total viewers and the demo, averaging 7.233 million and 1.1 million viewers, respectively. A 50,000 demo-viewer difference separated it from WNT, with NBC News’ broadcast receiving a boost courtesy of Llamas’ exclusive sit-down with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, February 4, with Nightly News finishing in first place in the advertiser-coveted demo. Compared to the previous week, Nightly News was up +1% in total viewers and +6% in the demo—the only broadcast with across-the-board gains. When comparing its performance to the same week a year ago, Nightly News grew by +8% in total viewers and +10% in the demo.
CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil had 4.576 million total viewers and 579,000 viewers in the demo for the week of February 2. CBS News’ newscast was up by +1% in total viewers but fell by -7% in the demo compared to the previous week. Its year-ago week numbers showed the newscast growing by +1% in total viewers but dropping by -13% in the demo.
*Please note that year-over-year comparisons are based on Nielsen Big Data+Panel (2025) vs. Panel (2025) measurements.
February 2, 2026
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
| • Total Viewers: | 8,987,000 | 7,233,000 | 4,576,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,150,000 | 1,100,000 | 579,000 |
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 2/2/26), Previous Week (w/o 1/26/26), and Year-Ago Week (w/o 2/3/25). Season to date: Most Current Data Stream: 2025-2026 Season (9/22/25 – 2/8/26) and 2024-2025 Season (9/23/24 – 2/9/25).
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