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Press release – Ratings
May 29, 2026
‘World News Tonight’ Grows Across the Board Week to Week and Year to Year
‘World News Tonight’ Is Delivering Largest Season Viewership in 4 Years and Is #1 for 10th Year in a Row, With Biggest Margin Over NBC in 31 Years and CBS in at Least 34 Years
For the sixth week in a row, “World News Tonight with David Muir” stood as the No. 1 program in Total Viewers (8.187 million) on all of broadcast and cable (excluding sports) during the week of May 18, 2026, based on Live+Same Day Big Data Plus Panel Program Ratings from Nielsen Media Research.
NOTE: On Wednesday (5/20/26), “NBC Nightly News” was retitled to “NBC Nitely News.” On Thursday (5/21/26), “World News Tonight” was retitled to “WNT-ABC.” On Friday (5/22/26), “World News Tonight,” “NBC Nightly News” and “CBS Evening News” were retitled. The retitled telecasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages. Weekly averages for “World News Tonight” (Monday-Wednesday) and “NBC Nightly News” (Monday, Tuesday and Thursday) are based on three days, while “CBS Evening News” is based on four days (Monday-Thursday).
ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” airs 6:30-7:00 p.m. ET on ABC. Chris Dinan is the executive producer of the broadcast.
EVENING NEWS (Week of May 18, 2026)
Source: Nielsen, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 National Live + Same Day Big Data Plus Panel Program Ratings. Current Week (w/o 5/18/26), Previous Week (w/o 5/11/26) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 5/19/25). Season to date: Most Current Data Stream: 2025-2026 Season (9/22/25 – 5/24/26) and 2024-2025 Season (9/23/24 – 5/25/25). Beginning 12/26/22, averages are based on Big Data Plus Panel ratings. Season averages based on Big Data Plus Panel ratings start with the 2023-2024 season. Beginning 9/29/25, “World News Tonight” averages include airings on ABCNL. Nielsen ratings for ABC, NBC and CBS include additional airings in select markets. Beginning 8/31/20, national ratings also include Out of Home (OOH) viewing.
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