Week of Dec. 29 & Q4 2025 Evening News Ratings
Evening News Ratings: Week of December 29, 2025
ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir led the evening news broadcasts in total viewers for the week of December 29, 2025, averaging 7.730 million viewers, according to Nielsen national live+same-day big data plus program ratings.
world News Tonight experienced a 2% decrease in total viewership and a 5% decline in the A25-54 demographic, which recorded 883,000 viewers. However, compared to the week beginning December 30, 2024, the broadcast saw an 11% increase in total viewers and remained flat in the A25-54 demo.
CBS evening News garnered 4.046 million total viewers and 486,000 viewers in the A25-54 demographic for the same week. The broadcast was down 1% in total viewers but up 6% in the demo compared to the previous week.Year-over-year comparisons to the week of December 30, 2024, showed a 9% decrease in total viewers and a 24% decrease in the A25-54 demographic.
NBC News did not report weekly averages for the period between December 29, 2025, and January 1, 2026. Its broadcasts were categorized as specials rather than regular telecasts. Specifically, NBC Nightly News was retitled NBC Nitely News on December 29, 2025, December 30, 2025, and January 2, 2026, and coded as specials on December 31, 2025, and January 1, 2026.
Note: ABC News’ weekly average covers December 30-31, 2025, with its December 31 broadcast preempted and recoded as a special on January 1, 2026, then retitled to WNT-ABC on January 2, 2026. CBS News’ averages are based on December 29, 2025, December 30, 2025, and January 2, 2026.
