What To Know
- All three major evening news programs—ABC, NBC, and CBS—saw week-over-week declines in both total viewers and the key demo.
- ABC World News Tonight maintained its lead in both total viewers and the 25-54 demo.
- CBS Evening News continued to lag behind its competitors, experiencing the largest weekly declines in both total viewers and the demo.
The evening news ratings are in for the first full week of May, and it was a week of declines across the board for CBS, NBC, and ABC.
According to AdWeek, citing national live+same-day big data plus program ratings from Nielsen, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir held onto the top spot in both total viewers and the coveted Adults 25-54 demographic for the week beginning May 4.
The show averaged 8.183 million total viewers and 976,000 demo viewers. This was down 1 percent in total viewers and down 3 percent in the key demo compared to the previous week. However, numbers were up year over year, with a 13 percent increase in total viewers and a 1 percent rise in the demo compared to the same period in 2025.
NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas remained in the No. 2 spot, averaging 6.125 million total viewers and 903,000 demo viewers. Compared to the week before, the show was down 2 percent in total viewers and down 3 percent in the demo. However, much like World News Night, the program was up from 2025, with a 9 percent increase in total viewers and a 14 percent bump in the demo.
Meanwhile, CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil trailed its competition, averaging 3.702 million total viewers and 473,000 demo viewers. The show was down 4 percent in total viewers and down 13 percent in the key demo compared to the week prior.
Evening News, which has made headlines in recent weeks for dropping below 4 million viewers, was up 2 percent among total viewers compared to the same period last year. However, the program dropped 6 percent in the 25-54 demo.
Dokoupil took over as Evening News anchor on January 5 after he was promoted from CBS Mornings by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.
CBS Evening News, Weeknights, 6:30/5:30c, CBS
NBC Nightly News, Weeknights, 6:30/5:30c, NBC
ABC World News Tonight, Weeknights, 6:30/5:30c, ABC

