ABC’s World News Tonight With David Muir came out on top in all major categories (adults 25-54 and adults 18-49), becoming the No. 1 newscast in America when it came to total viewers during the 2019-20 broadcast season. This is the first time in 24 years that World News Tonight has taken that trophy.
According to current data from Nielsen, World News Tonight (9.65M, 1.96M and 1.33M) eclipsed NBC Nightly News (8.59M, 1.89M and 1.32 M) by 1.06M total viewers, by 71,000 adults in the 25-54 demo and by 13,000 in the adults 18-49 demo.
The news program ranked No. 1 in total viewers for the fourth season in a row. It doubled its lead over NBC Nightly News from last season (+100% – 1.06M vs. 532,000) to its largest season lead since the 1995-1996 season. In addition, World News Tonight topped CBS Evening News (6.07M ) by 3.574 million.
World News Tonight topped the season in the adults 25-54 demo leading NBC by its largest news demo margin (+71,000 – 1.96M vs. 1.89M) in 24 years and taking the top spot for the first time in 12 years. World News Tonight also outdid NBC in the adults 18-49 demo (+13,000 – 1.33M vs. 1.32M) for the first time in 24 years. This also marks World News Tonight‘s most-watched season in 16 years.
On the AM side of things, for the eighth consecutive year, ABC’s Good Morning America has taken the prize for No. 1 morning show. For the 2019-20 broadcast season, GMA (3.96M) sped ahead of Today (3.88M) compared to last season (+80% – 81,000 vs. 45,000). This is GMA‘s largest viewership since the 2016-17 season.
Today again was tops in adults 25-54. However, GMA closed the gap with its NBC rival compared to last season in the 25-54 demo (-34% – 102,000 vs. 155,000), marking its closest performance in five years.
In addition, GMA (3.96M, 1.12M and 783,000, respectively) beat out CBS This Morning (3.01M , 744,000 and 507,000, respectively) in total viewers (+947,000), adults 25-54 (+422,000) and Adults 18-49 (+276,000). This marks its largest news demo lead since the 2015-16 season.