NBC, ABC & CBS Evening News Ratings: Tony Dokoupil Gets Boost in Key Demo

The evening news ratings for the week of September 7 are in, bringing positive news for CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil, the only program to post gains in one of the two measured categories.

According to Adweek, citing Nielsen’s national live+same-day big data plus program ratings, CBS Evening News averaged 3.893 million total viewers and 556,000 viewers in the key Adults 25-54 demographic for the week of September 7. While this was down 4 percent in total viewers from the prior week, it was up 2 percent in the demo.

CBS Evening News was also up 1 percent in total viewers compared to the same period in 2025. However, it fell 3 percent in the demo year over year.

Despite being the only show to post a week-over-week increase, CBS Evening News still trailed the competition. ABC World News Tonight with David Muir held the top spot with 8.02 million total viewers and 1.106 million demo viewers for the week of September 7. This was down 6 percent in total viewers and flat in the demo compared to the week before.

It was better news for World News Tonight in the year-over-year figures, with an increase of 12 percent in total viewers and 10 percent in the demo compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas took second place with 6.472 million total viewers and 1.006 million demo viewers. Compared to the previous week, the show was down 7 percent in total viewers and down 9 percent in the key demo.

Nightly News posted the strongest year-over-year numbers, up 14 percent in total viewers and up 31 percent in the demo.

It should be noted that the weekly averages for each network are based on different periods. ABC News and NBC News’ averages were only based on two days (Tuesday and Thursday), while CBS News’ was based on four days (Monday to Thursday).

CBS Evening News, Weekdays, 6:30/5:30c, CBS

World News Tonight, Weekdays, 6:30/5:30c, ABC

NBC Nightly News, Weekdays, 6:30/5:30c, NBC