NBC and Brian Williams Beat the Competition in Boston Disaster Coverage

During the week that included the Boston marathon bombings and the fertilizer plant explosion in Texas, “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” was America’s most-watched and most-trusted choice for the latest news and analysis.

According to Nielsen Media Research data for the week ending April 19, 2013, the NBC broadcast averaged 9.834 million total viewers, +1.346 million more than ABC “World News,” and +2.553 million more than CBS “Evening News.”

Headlines:

• Nightly drew its highest total viewer delivery since the week of Nov 19, 2012 and highest rating A25-54 since the week of July 30, 2012 (London Olympics).
• Nightly had its widest total viewer advantage over World News since the week of Nov 19, 2012, and widest A25-54 lead (+629,000) since the week of Aug 6, 2012 (second week of London Olympics). In A25-54 rating, this marks the widest advantage since the week of Dec 10, 2012.
• On Monday, Nightly averaged 11.016 million viewers and a 3.3 A25-54 rating, the highest single-day audience delivery since Nov 23, 2012, and highest demo rating since Feb 15, 2010.

Weekly Analysis:

• Nightly delivered 9.834 million total viewers, +16% (+1,346,000) more than ABC World News’ 8.488 million and +35% (+2,553,000) more than CBS Evening News’ 7.281 million.
• Nightly averaged a 6.6/13 Household rating, ahead of ABC’s 5.8/12 and CBS’ 4.9/9.
• Nightly has won for 188 consecutive weeks in total viewers, and in 235 of the past 236 weeks among total viewers.
• Nightly delivered a 2.5 A25-54 rating, +5 tenths ahead of ABC’s 2.0 rating and +8 tenths more than CBS’s 1.7 rating.
• Among A25-54 (000), Nightly averaged 2.967 million viewers, +27% (+629,000) viewers ahead of World News’ 2.338 million and +47% (+949,000) ahead of Evening News’ 2.018 million.
• Nightly has topped World News in A25-54 (000) for 230 consecutive weeks.
• Versus the same week last season, Nightly was up +18% in P2+ (000), +39% among Adults 25-54, +50% among Women 25-54, and +25% among Men 25-54.

Season-to-Date Highlights:

• Season-to-date, Nightly leads World News by +799,000 total viewers, and by +324,000 Adult 25-54 viewers (+3 tenths).

NOTE: All networks were low coverage breakouts on Friday due to continuing coverage and are excluded from the average.

Patrick Burkey is the executive producer and Sam Singal is the senior broadcast producer of "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams."