US evening news ratings: ABC leads viewers, NBC wins demo

Television news ratings for the week of August 31, 2026, show varied performance across major networks ahead of the Labor Day holiday. ABC World News Tonight with David Muir led in total viewers, averaging 8.508 million, despite a week-over-week decline in both total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demographic. However, compared to the same week in 2025, ABC saw significant year-over-year growth.

NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas secured the win in the Adults 25-54 demographic, surpassing ABC by a margin of approximately 1,000 viewers. NBC averaged 6.988 million total viewers, marking a 1% dip from the previous week but a 3% increase in the key demographic. Year-over-year, NBC's viewership and demographic numbers showed substantial increases.

CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil was the only newscast to report growth in both total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demographic during this period.

Note that the networks utilized different tracking windows for their weekly averages: ABC averaged three days, CBS averaged four days, and NBC averaged two days. Additionally, certain broadcasts with modified titles were excluded from the weekly and season-to-date calculations.