Thanksgiving Takes Priority During a Slow News Week

The Thanksgiving holiday weekend understandably led to lower viewership across all three evening newscasts during the week of Nov. 25.

NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt was the lone standout during this holiday period. The flagship NBC newscast avoided steep audience erosion in both total viewers and the advertiser-coveted Adults 25-54 demo.

Note: The weekly averages of ABC World News Tonight are based on one day (Tuesday), while CBS News and NBC News’ averages are based on two days (Monday and Tuesday). Monday’s (11/25/24) ABC News broadcast was retitled to WNT-ABC, while Wednesday’s (11/27/24) and Thursday’s (11/28/24) broadcasts for all three outlets were coded as specials. ABC News and CBS News’ Friday (11/29/24) broadcasts were preempted, while NBC News’ broadcast was retitled to NBC. These broadcasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages.

ABC World News with David Muir averaged 7.677 million total viewers and 1.012 million A25-54 viewers for the week. That translates to respective declines of -1% and -9% compared to the previous week. Looking at its performance alongside the same week in 2023 (the week beginning Nov. 27), WNT was down -9% in total viewers and -14% in the demo.

NBC Nightly News remained No. 2 as it averaged 6.223 million total viewers and 934,000 demo viewers. That translates to a -2% decline in the former category and a flat result in the latter. Year-to-year, Nightly News was down -12% in both total viewers and the demo.

Finally, CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell finished in third place with 4.377 million total viewers and 558,000 A25-54 viewers for respective declines of -6% and -16% compared to the previous week. Compared to its year-ago numbers, the newscast declined by -13% in total viewers and -22 % in the demo.