David Muir Leads Abc World News Tonight Ratings With 8.183 Million
ABC World News Tonight ratings put David Muir’s broadcast back at the top for the week of May 4, averaging 8.183 million total viewers and 976,000 Adults 25-54. The ABC program led the evening news race in both measurements as all three major newscasts posted week-to-week declines.
That left ABC ahead of NBC Nightly News by 70,000 demo viewers, a gap that held for the second week in a row. For broadcasters and advertisers, the weekly numbers still show which anchor is drawing the largest live audience in the parts of the schedule that matter most.
ABC and NBC stay separated
ABC World News Tonight with David Muir averaged 8.183 million total viewers, down 1% from the previous week, and 976,000 Adults 25-54, down 3%. NBC Nightly News, anchored by Tom Llamas, averaged 6.125 million total viewers and 903,000 Adults 25-54, placing it No. 2 in both categories for the week of May 4.
The 70,000-viewer gap in the Adults 25-54 demo is the clearest sign of where the lead stands. ABC also stayed ahead on total viewers by more than 2 million, a margin that kept the broadcast firmly in front even in a softer week for the whole evening-news category.
CBS Evening News falls harder
CBS Evening News averaged 3.702 million total viewers and 473,000 Adults 25-54, leaving it well behind ABC and NBC. Its audience fell 4% in total viewers from the previous week and 13% in the demo, the steepest slide among the three broadcasts in that key younger-adult measurement.
Three retitled broadcasts were excluded from the weekly averages: CBS News on Tuesday, May 5, 2026, NBC News on Wednesday, May 6, 2026, and ABC News on Friday, May 8, 2026. That left the week’s averages based on four days, which is the frame readers and advertisers will use when comparing the networks’ performance.
Nielsen's May 4 week
The live+same-day Nielsen data also shows how the three broadcasts moved against the same week in 2025. ABC World News Tonight was up 13% in total viewers and 1% in the demo from that period last year, while NBC Nightly News was down 2% in total viewers and 3% in the demo.
For CBS, the year-over-year comparison was weaker still, with the broadcast down 4% in total viewers and 13% in the demo. The next comparison point for the evening-news race will be the following weekly Nielsen readout, which will show whether ABC can keep the lead while the other two broadcasts try to narrow the gap.
