Week of January 6 Evening news ratings: ABC News dominates first full week of 2025
The first full week of 2025 has been busy with breaking news. Wildfires in Los Angeles And former president Jimmy Carterstate funeral made headlines and propelled all three evening newscasts to double-digit growth.
ABC World News with David Muir continued to lead the way as the #1 program of the week across broadcast and cable (excluding sports) in total audience. Muir was the only evening news anchor reporting from Los Angeles during the wildfires, anchoring WNT’s Wednesday, Thursday and Friday broadcasts from the area.
Wednesday’s show notably saw WNT record its strongest performance in the Adults 25-54 demo in nearly two years. Meanwhile, Thursday’s broadcast – the day of Carter’s funeral – was the most watched since January 30, 2023.
World News Tonight averaged 8.866 million total viewers and 1.344 million A25-54 viewers for gains of +27% and +52% compared to the previous week. Looking at its performance during the same week in 2024 (the week starting January 8), WNT grew +2% in total viewers and +18% in the demo.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt was the second-ranked TV show in both measured categories, averaging 7.379 million total viewers and 1.155 million demo viewers. This translates into weekly gains of +24% in the first category and +37% in the second. Year over year, Nightly News grew +1% in total audience and +5% in the demo.
CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell saw 5.247 million total viewers and 743,000 viewers in the demo for gains of +18% and +16%, respectively. It is, however, the only newscast to see a year-over-year decline, with a -2% decline in total viewers and -5% in the demo compared to 2024. O’Donnell is set to step down from the anchor chair after the president’s election. Donald Trumpthe inauguration on January 20, which could lead to an increase in viewership.
ABC BNC CBS • Total number of viewers: 8,866,000 7,379,000 5,247,000 • A25-54: 1,344,000 1,155,000 743,000
Source: The Nielsen Company, total NTI viewers, adults 25-54 and adults 18-49 live + SD Current week (without 01/6/24), previous week (without 12/30 /24) and year- A week ago (without 8/01/24). Most recent data feed: 2024-2025 season (09/23/24-12/1/25) and 2023-2024 season (09/25/23-01/14/24). As of 08/31/20, national rankings also include out-of-home (OOH) viewing. Averages based on regular TV broadcasts.
