After experiencing 9-year highs earlier this month, evening news viewership leveled off last week. And with the approach of spring and the return to daylight saving time a week from Sunday, viewership is likely to fall off a bit more.
All three newscasts were down in both total viewers and demo viewers from the week prior. Compared to the same week last year, and with the lift from the Sochi Olympics, only “Nightly News with Brian Williams” saw growth: up +10% in viewers and up +2% in the demo. “World News with Diane Sawyer” was down -5% in viewers and down -2% in the demo while “CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley” was down -3% in viewers and down -13% in the demo.
Following a big first week from Sochi — its best week in 9 years, topping the first week averages of the past four Olympics — “Nightly” experienced Olympic viewer fatigue last week, with viewership down -10% from week one.
On Friday, “World News” came in first in the younger demo, its first daily win over “Nightly News” during a Winter Olympics since Feb. 23, 2006, during the Torino games.
Due to Presidents’ Day, “CBS Evening News” was coded as a special and is excluded from the weekly averages. NBC and ABC are based on all five days.
Numbers for the week of February 17, 2014:
| NBC | ABC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 10,398,000 | 8,012,000 | 7,129,000 |
| • A25-54: | 2,610,000 | 2,212,000 | 1,810,000 |