Evening News Ratings Update
David Muir continues to be the leading figure in evening network news, while NBC’s Tom Lamas is making strides in challenging that long-held position.
According to Nielsen Big Data+ Panel, ABC’s “World News Tonight” finished June as the most-watched nightly news program in the U.S., drawing an average of 7.82 million viewers. It narrowly surpassed NBC’s “Nightly News,” particularly in the 25-to-54 age demographic that advertisers prioritize.
In this key demographic, Lamas is intensifying the competition.
NBC attracted an average of 936,000 viewers in the 25-to-54 age bracket in June, just 11,000 shy of ABC’s 947,000. This marks the closest difference in viewership between the two networks in nine years.
These figures reflect Lamas’ first year as anchor, a period during which NBC has consistently reduced ABC’s lead in this crucial demographic.
Even with this narrowing gap, Muir retains a substantial advantage in total viewers; “World News Tonight” averaged around 7.82 million viewers in June—roughly 1.4 million more than NBC’s offering, as per Nielsen data.
This season, “World News Tonight” continues to lead NBC by about 1.8 million viewers and CBS by 4.3 million, which is the largest margin over competitors in over three decades. This comes despite some market disruptions last month due to sports events and certain issues with local ABC affiliates.
Nonetheless, NBC celebrated June as its fifth consecutive month of year-over-year viewership growth across total viewers and key advertising demographics.
The network also highlighted that “Nightly News” achieved its best June viewership in six years, enjoying multiple daily wins over ABC in the demo metrics.
CBS Evening News secured third place, averaging 3.91 million total viewers, with 564,000 in the 25-54 demographic and 373,000 aged 18-49 in June.
CBS noted that the program, hosted by Tony Dokoupil, has gained traction since its relaunch earlier this year. It reported a 1% increase in total viewership compared to May and a 9% rise in the 25-54 demographic year-over-year, along with a 7% increase from the previous month. This marks the strongest monthly performance in that demographic since January.
This uptick occurred amidst some internal challenges at the network, particularly related to the “60 Minutes” team.
Network executives have attributed Dokoupil’s leadership to reversing a significant viewership decline that affected the previous hosting setup, which included Maurice Dubois and John Dickerson, ending 2025 with a 12% drop in viewers compared to the prior year.
CBS anticipates continued viewership growth year-over-year in the second quarter, even though viewership trends generally dip in the summer months.
Since 2015, ABC has dominated the evening news landscape in total viewership, following the departure of Brian Williams from NBC. “World News Tonight” continues to hold a substantial lead over competitors.
The Post has reached out to all three networks for their perspectives.
