A big news year,
and big for network news
Big Three evening news shows see best gains in nearly a decade
By Bill Cromwell
Sep 22, 2011
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| NBC's Brian Williams: Still tops at 8.79 million total viewers |
The killing of Osama bin Laden. The series of natural disasters that hit Japan, Joplin, Mo., and the East Coast. The budding presidential campaign. The country's continued economic woes.
It was clearly a big year for news, and that led to a bigger year for the Big Three evening newscasts.
For the first time since the 2001-2002 season, which included the aftermath of 9/11, all three newscasts grew over the prior year, according to Nielsen data.
"NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams" remained the nightly news leader, up 3 percent over last year to 8.79 million total viewers for the 2010-'11 season, which ended on Sunday, Sept. 18.
"ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" drew 7.81 million total viewers, also 3 percent better than last year.
And "CBS Evening News," which was anchored by both Katie Couric and Scott Pelley, averaged 5.87 million total viewers, up 3 percent over last year.
The increases are surprising for a medium that has been losing viewers steadily over the past decade. Ten years ago, the three newscasts combined drew more than 30 million viewers.
This season they drew 22.47 million viewers. So while the increases are notable, the evening news is still not as relevant as it has been in the past.
It's unclear whether those audience gains will be sustained in the coming year. Contrary to what you might expect, broadcast news ratings don't always rise during a presidential election year; viewership declined in both 2004 and 2008.
Instead cable news saw a big surge during the last election, because those three networks tend to focus almost exclusively on politics, while the broadcast newscasts maintain more of a balance between politics and other subjects.
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