July 14--Lester Holt is on a ratings roll on "NBC Nightly News."
Last week, the evening news broadcast scored its third consecutive weekly ratings win since Holt was officially named as the replacement for Brian Williams as anchor.
The program also has taken a narrow lead over "ABC World News Tonight with David Muir" in the 2014-15 TV season among viewers aged 25-54, the group targeted by advertisers who buy commercials on news programs.
For the week of July 6-10, Nielsen data showed "Nightly" averaging 8.1 million viewers, 9% ahead of "ABC World News Tonight" (7.5 million) and 22% ahead of "CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley" (6.7 million). In the 25-54 demographic, NBC had a 10% lead over ABC and a 30% lead over CBS.
One NBC News insider not authorized to discuss the numbers publicly said Holt is benefiting from an on-air promotional campaign. Officially naming Holt to the job after he filled in for Williams during his five-month suspension has likely encouraged evening news viewers to sample the broadcast again.
Williams will be reassigned to cable network MSNBC after his suspension ends next month. He lost the "Nightly" anchor chair because of false statements he made about his reporting during the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.
ABC News continues to tout the year-to-year audience gains for "World News." The program is up 6% over last season, while "Nightly" is off by 7%. "CBS Evening News" is up 3%.
