Broadcasters Struggle to Keep Pace with the 2024 Election Race
In the week of July 21, 2025, all three major evening news broadcasts experienced a decline in viewership. ABC World News Tonight with David Muir was the only exception, managing to hold its ground.
President Joe Biden announced that he would step down as the presidential candidate, making Vice President Kamala Harris the focus. This news event may have contributed to increased interest in the news, yet viewership numbers still showed a downward trend.
ABC World News Tonight averaged 7.272 million total viewers, a -4% decrease compared to the same week in 2024. The show also saw a -10% drop in the Adults 25-54 demo, with an average of 1 million viewers in this category. However, it's worth noting that ABC World News Tonight remained flat in total viewers for this week.
NBC Nightly News, hosted by Tom Llamas, finished as the second-ranked evening news broadcast in total viewers and the demo, averaging 5,487,000 total viewers and 775,000 viewers in the A25-54 demo. The show experienced double-digit falls of -11% in total viewers and -18% in the A25-54 demo when compared to the same week a year ago.
CBS Evening News, with its 3,615,000 total viewers and 495,000 viewers in the A25-54 demo, saw double-digit falls of -18% in total viewers and -19% in the A25-54 demo when compared to the same week a year ago. The programme was down -4% in total viewers and -1% in the A25-54 demo compared to the week prior.
During this week, the 2024 Summer Olympic Games commenced in Paris, which could have potentially drawn viewers away from the news broadcasts.
Amidst these ratings declines, there were personnel changes within the news industry. Meghan Rafferty, who had been Executive Producer of NBC Nightly News since 2021, left her role to join Versant as Vice President of News Standards. Ben Mayer was appointed as interim Executive Producer at NBC Nightly News.
As the news landscape continues to evolve, these ratings offer a snapshot of audience engagement with the evening news broadcasts during the week of July 21, 2025.
Read also:
- United States tariffs pose a threat to India, necessitating the recruitment of adept negotiators or strategists, similar to those who had influenced Trump's decisions.
- Weekly happenings in the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag)
- Southwest region's most popular posts, accompanied by an inquiry:
- Discussion between Putin and Trump in Alaska could potentially overshadow Ukraine's concerns
