Brian Williams-Less ‘Nightly News’ Loses Demo to David Muir’s ‘World News Tonight’

For second week of Brian Williams’ suspension, Muir’s broadcast topples “Nightly” in 25-54 demo with 2,571,000 viewers vs. 2,554,000; Nightly wins total viewers

David Muir, Brian Williams

ABC’s “World News Tonight” with David Muir won the advertising-coveted 25-54 demo for the week of February 16th, beating “NBC Nightly News” in the second full week of Brian Williams‘ suspension.

WNT attracted 2,571,000 24-54 viewers vs. 2,554,000 for Nightly—who has Lester Holt substitute anchoring for Williams. The week before, ABC’s broadcast trailed by 50,000 demo viewers.

Even with the ABC demo victory, Nightly won in total viewers, 10,103,000 viewers vs. 9,687,000 viewers for Muir, increasing its total viewers advantage to 416,000 viewers; up from 398,000 the week before.

“CBS Evening News” came in third with 8,497,000 viewers and 2,025,000 demo viewers. Year-over-year, the CBS broadcast was up 13 percent in the demo and 20 percent in total viewers from the same time last year.

The demo win for ABC is its first since the week of December 29, 2014. WNT with Muir (and Diane Sawyer before him) was starting to see demo momentum even before the Williams’ Iraq helicopter scandal began. The program won the 25-54 demo for November sweeps and the fourth quarter of 2014.

Brian Williams is currently in the beginning part of an unpaid, six-month suspension.

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