Depending on what you read, you may be finding conflicting information about the ratings trends for ABC World News Tonight, hosted by David Muir, following the news anchor’s gig as moderator for the ABC News Presidential Debate. Below are those claims, followed by The TV Ratings Guide’s ruling.
The Original Claim
Many right-wing online publications, not only report on David Muir’s ratings decline, but also attribute said decline to his performance as moderator at the debate — a performance criticized by many on the right side of the political spectrum. These publications include New York Post, Fox News, The Daily Wire, Washington Examiner, which all contained similar reporting of these ratings. To quote Fox News’s article, who was first to report, “Muir’s ‘World News Tonight’ averaged 6.7 million viewers on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the three episodes following the debate, after averaging 7.6 million in 2024 leading up to the debate.’ The article goes on to mention the decline being harsher than those of its nightly news competition on CBS and NBC. They later pivot to Muir’s performance at the debate, saying ‘it’s unclear if Trump supporters have tuned out ABC’s newscast on the heels of the debate’.
The Pushback
According to a press release put out by ABC News, World News Tonight hit a five-week ratings high the week after the presidential debate. They tout ‘World News Tonight saw gains compared to the year-ago Monday (9/18/23) in both Total Viewers (+9% - 7.581 million vs 6.972 million) and Adults 18-49 (+2% - 726.000 vs. 709,000).’ They also give specific figures for their competition on CBS and NBC, noting how far ahead Muir is from the competition. They also mention World News Tonight having its highest-rated A25-54 demo rating in three weeks — the key demo for programs like Muir’s.
The Truth
While both sides are technically true with their ratings reporting, a better comparison would be the one provided by Deadline. The media trade publication mentions World News Tonight being down slightly in total viewers when comparing the three days before the debate to the three days after the debate. As reported by Deadline, ‘In the three days after the debate, the World Night Tonight audience averaged 6.68 million viewers, compared to 6.74 million in the three days before the event.’ Both Deadline and Fox News note ABC was blacked out from DirecTV customers during that entire period due to the carriage dispute between Disney, who owns ABC, and DirecTV.
Our Verdict
Given the Disney-DirecTV blackout and natural linear television viewing declines, comparing this week’s ratings to ratings from last season, or even earlier this year, isn’t really the best comparison. Still, ABC only rebutted with one airing’s worth of ratings, which is a flimsy argument. In reality, viewership was mostly steady in the three days after the debate from the three days before, down less than 1% in total viewers.
Fox News Ratings Claim: HALF TRUE