May has officially come and gone. And with it, both World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News saw year-over-year ratings increases.
What We Know: ABC News’ World News Tonight has continually dominated the evening network newscast space. That didn’t change at the conclusion of May. The show led the next closest challenger — NBC Nightly News — by nearly 2 million viewers.
What The Numbers Show:
Week of 5/25/26 Evening News Ratings
| Program | Total | P18-49 |
|---|---|---|
| ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT | 7.8 million | 700K |
| NBC NIGHTLY NEWS | 6.0 million | 600K |
| CBS EVENING NEWS | 3.8 million | 300K |
Total Viewership Comparison — Week of 5/25/26 vs. Week of 5/18/26
| Program | Week of 5/25/26 Total | Week of 5/18/26 Total | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT | 7.8M | 8.2M | ▼ -4.4% |
| NBC NIGHTLY NEWS | 6.0M | 6.1M | ▼ -2.3% |
| CBS EVENING NEWS | 3.8M | 4.0M | ▼ -5.6% |
Total Viewership Comparison — Week of 5/25/26 vs. Week of 5/26/25
| Program | Week of 5/25/26 P2+ | Week of 5/26/25 P2+ | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT | 7.8 million | 7.0 million | ▲ +11.1% |
| NBC NIGHTLY NEWS | 6.0 million | 5.7 million | ▲ +4.1% |
| CBS EVENING NEWS | 3.8 million | 3.9 million | ▼ -3.0% |
What Remains Unclear: How much of an impact the new measurement configuration by Nielsen has on the changes from 2025 to 2026.
What It Means: It is important to note that the week of May 26th, 2025, was Lester Holt‘s final week as anchor of NBC Nightly News. Despite his “Most Trusted Man in News” status, the network has not seen a decline from Holt’s departure. It is also important to note that, at the time, reports suggested that CBS News viewed the Evening News falling under 4 million viewers as a colossal failure. The network has dropped even further since it retooled the newscast earlier this year.
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Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing daily news stories, features, and opinion columns. He joined Barrett Media in 2022 after a decade leading several radio brands in several formats, as well as a 5-year stint working in local television. In addition to his work with Barrett Media, he is a radio and TV play-by-play broadcaster. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
