Week of Aug 3 Evening News Ratings: Nightly News Takes First in Demo

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Week of Aug 3 Evening News Ratings: Nightly News Takes First in Demo

CBS Evening News was down in both categories

By Mark Mwachiro

NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas ascended to the top spot in the Adults 25-54 demo for the week of August 3, after trailing World News Tonight with David Muir by 130,000 demo viewers the week prior. This is Nightly News’ largest demo audience since Feb. 16, and its fifth weekly win for the season.

NBC News’ evening news program was also the only one to see week-to-week growth in both total viewers and the advertiser-coveted demo. ABC World News Tonight with David Muir remained America’s most-watched newscast and ranks as the No. 1 program on all of broadcast and cable (excluding sports) in total viewers for the past 17 weeks.

Meanwhile, CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil ended the week down in both measured categories, with the newscast falling below the 4 million total viewers mark.

Note: NBC Nightly News’ weekly average is based on three days (Monday-Wednesday), while the weekly averages of ABC World News Tonight and CBS Evening News are based on four days (Monday-Thursday). Thursday’s edition (08/06/26) of NBC News’ broadcast was retitled due to NFL Preseason coverage. While Friday’s (08/07/2026) ABC News, NBC News, and CBS News broadcasts were retitled to WNT-ABC, NBC Nitely News, and CBS Evening Nws, respectively. These broadcasts are 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 8.339 million total viewers and 1.039 million Adults 25-54 demo viewers for the week of Aug. 3. The evening newscast was up +2% among total viewers but saw a -4% decline among A25-54 viewers compared to the previous week . Looking at its performance during the same week in 2025* ( the week beginning Aug. 4 ), WNT was up +21% in total viewers and +14% in the demo.

NBC Nightly News finished in second place in total viewers, but was No. 1 in the demo, averaging 6.657 million and 1.065 million viewers, respectively. Nightly News pulled ahead of GMA in the demo courtesy of an additional 26,000 viewers. Compared to the previous week, Nightly News was up +1% in total viewers and +12% in the demo—the only evening newscast with growth in both measured categories. When comparing its performance to the same week a year ago, Nightly News was up by +25% in total viewers and +49% in the demo.

CBS Evening News finished the week of Aug. 3 with 3.913 million total viewers and 514,000 demo viewers. CBS News’ newscast was down by -5% in total viewers and -10% in the demo compared to the previous week—the only newscast to trend downward in either measured category. Its year-ago week numbers showed CBS Evening News gaining viewers by +5% among total viewers and staying flat in the demo.

*Please note that year-over-year comparisons are based on Nielsen Big Data+Panel (2026) vs. Panel (2025) measurements.

August 3, 2026 (Nielsen Big Data + Panel):

Source: Nielsen Big Data + Panel, L+SD, Week of 8/3/2026. Season to date: Most Current Data Stream: 2025-2026 Season (9/22/25 – 8/9/26) and 2024-2025 Season (9/23/24 – 8/10/25). Average audience based on regularly titled telecasts only.

Mark Mwachiro is a TVNewser contributor who has been writing for the blog since March 2022. Based out of New York, Mark has also contributed to ADWEEK.

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Fox News remained the most-watched cable network in both measured categories

GMA saw gains in both measured categories

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