Ratings Screwup Ruins ABC News' Victory Against Brian Williams
Overpowered TV ratings tabulator Nielsen admitted to fucking up months and months of ratings last week and told broadcast networks that they would re-crunch the numbers. In those updated numbers, CNN reliable source Brian Stelter reports, ABC World New Tonight's hard-fought ratings victory over NBC Nightly News and Brian Williams' jawline wasn't a win after all.
For the first time in five years, it appeared last week, ABC World News Tonight had not only topped the Nightly News in the 25-to-54-year-old demo, but also toppled Brian Williams' show in total viewers as well. But after Nielsen recalculated to account for their system error, the Nightly News managed to edge ABC out of its victory.
"We are pleased that the corrected numbers confirm that NBC Nightly News is the No. 1 news broadcast in America, and has been for the last 265 weeks," NBC said of the corrected ratings.
But that's a hollow victory for NBC—the numbers continue to trend toward ABC and their new haircut, David Muir, who is already making ratings strides just a little more than a month after replacing Diane Sawyer on the news show.
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