The switch from Lester Holt to Tom Llamas as the anchor of “NBC Nightly News” looks to be paying off when it comes to attracting younger viewers.
“NBC Nightly News,” for the first time since Llamas took the reins on June 2, beat “ABC World News Tonight” and David Muir in the 25-54 demo on Tuesday, according to Nielsen data; “Nightly News” averaged 904,000 viewers in the demo, while ABC averaged 891,000.
That represented a 9% year-over-year increase for NBC, while ABC’s 25-54 viewership dipped 8%. NBC also won the 18-49 demo on back-to-back nights on Monday and Tuesday, averaging 650,500 viewers in the demo, compared to 621,500 for ABC.
“World News Tonight,” as it has been for the past several years, remains the leader when it comes to total viewers. ABC averaged 7.09 million viewers on Tuesday, compared to 5.81 million for NBC.
And in June, Muir and ABC averaged 7.31 million viewers, compared to 5.67 million for NBC and Llamas in his debut month; June was ABC’s biggest ratings win in three decades. For the month, ABC’s ratings were up 1% year-over-year, while NBC’s ratings increased 0.4%. “CBS Evening News” was down 10% year-over-year in June to 3.93 million total viewers.
The 46-year-old Llamas was named Holt’s replacement in March, after Holt had anchored the nightly newscast for the past decade. Llamas has continued to anchor “Top Story,” a news program that streams on NBC News Now, since becoming the face of “Nightly News.” Tuesday’s demo wins come after NBC enjoyed a 7% year-over-year boost in the 25-54 demo in Llamas’ first month, averaging 823,000 viewers.
For a bigger look at how Fox News and other networks performed during the second quarter, click here.