After anchor David Muir moderated the presidential debate last week, many questioned what the performance would mean for the ratings results of ABC World News Tonight. So far, not much has changed as it still bests NBC Nightly News.
Despite heavy criticism of David Muir and co-moderator Linsey Davis, ABC World News Tonight actually slightly grew its ratings lead over the Lester Holt-led NBC Nightly News in the Adults 25-54 demographic.
For the week of September 9th, the ABC News program averaged 6.9 million total viewers. In the Adults 25-54 demographic, it earned 967,000 viewers.
Meanwhile, the NBC News show averaged an audience of just over 6 million, with 881,000 coming in the Adults 25-54 demo.
The ABC show grew its lead in the demographic by 23% compared to the previous week. However, the three newscasts after the debate saw an audience dip, as the program averaged 6.7 million viewers on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Before the ABC News Presidental Debate, Muir’s evening news program featured an average audience of 7.6 million.
CBS Evening News, the nightly news program anchored by Norah O’Donnell, lagged behind with 4.39 million total viewers for the week. It featured an average audience of 659,000 during the week in the Adults 25-54 demographic.
The ratings results come on the heels of comments made by Muir toward critics who argued he and Davis were unfair to former President Donald Trump during the second debate. He dismissed the criticism by saying “All of the noise that you hear afterward about you know, ‘Which candidate won the debate, did the moderators win or lose?’ That’s just noise.”
