ABC News catches NBC for week
CBS continues to lag
ABC's "World News Tonight" averaged 3.16 million viewers aged 25-54 -- 30,000 fewer than NBC's usually dominant "Nightly News," according to Nielsen Media Research. Going by Nielsen's household rating, however, the two news nets were tied at a 2.9 rating.
When it came to overall eyeballs, the two nets were again running neck-and-neck. NBC averaged 8.98 million viewers -- 30,000 fewer than ABC posted for the week ending May 19.
CBS lagged substantially behind the competish, averaging 7.31 million viewers. In the 25-54 demo, CBS' "Evening News With Dan Rather" drew 2.31 million viewers.
Even with ABC's showing last week, NBC remained the dominant newscast during the May sweeps, according to Nielsen's end-of-the-month ratings summary.
During this period, "Nightly News" averaged a total of 9.4 million viewers; "World News" drew 8.9 million; and "Evening News," 7.38 million.
NBC finished the sweep winning the key 25-54 demo easily, with a 2.9 rating to ABC's 2.5. NBC said it was the net's strongest showing in this category in at least 16 years.
