NBC is slated to end 2024 as America’s number one news network according to data provided by Comscore Xmedia, backed by a double digital year-over-year increase, including +40 percent in two years, in viewership across broadcast TV, digital media, and streaming platforms.
On the broadcast side, NBC reported wins for many of its top shows, including Today, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Meet the Press with Kristen Welker, Dateline, and NBC News Daily:
TODAY ends the year with seven straight weeks of across-the-board wins, its best streak in five years. Season-to-date, TODAY is the number one morning show in total viewers, A25-54 and A18-49 for the first time in 13 years. This is the ninth consecutive year leading the A25-54 demo.
Meet the Press with Kristen Welker outperforms ABC’s This Week for the first time in three years among key A25-54 demo viewers in 2024 and has ranked atop the demo for five consecutive weeks for the first time in over two years.
Dateline is the most-watched newsmagazine franchise and true crime franchise in total linear minutes watched.
NBC News Daily is the number one afternoon news program on TV in the key A25-54 demo and is posting total viewer growth for the second consecutive season.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt regularly ranks among the top five programs in total viewers on TV each week and improved its A25-54 demo gap vs. ABC’s World News Tonight to its strongest level in five years.
Digitally, NBC News reports victories from its legacy properties like TODAY and Dateline, and also its social media presence:
NBCNews.com is averaging 87 million monthly unique visitors in 2024 so far, good for more year-over-year growth. Most recently, NBCNews.com reached 120 million unique visitors in November 2024, fueled by the network’s 2024 election coverage. It was the site’s second-best month on record, with a 51 percent year-over-year increase. NBCNews.com has ranked ahead of The New York Times brand for the past five consecutive months and ends the year as a top news site. NBCNews.com has also improved its monthly gap with CNN.com to its closest level on record.
The company’s social media accounts drove a record volume of video views in 2024, up 14 percent year over year. NBC News recorded its best year ever on TikTok, up 158 percent year over year.
TODAY had its best year ever on TikTok and Instagram, with a record number of video views across social platforms, up 34 percent year-over-year.
TODAY.com, the show’s website, ranks as the second largest individual publisher among leading lifestyle and entertainment brands. It has held this position for the last 15 quarters, averaging 50 million monthly unique visitors in 2024.
Dateline’s podcast is Apple’s fourth most popular show of the year and remains number one in true crime.
Lastly, NBC’s free ad-supported TV channel NBC News NOW is on pace to have its best year ever in 2024, marking its sixth consecutive record year since launch, with double-digit, year-over-year growth. NBC News NOW is also on track to achieve its strongest quarter on record in Q4. The monthly hours watched on the streaming network have grown more than three times over the last four years.
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