Network News Fact Sheet

MORE FACT SHEETS: STATE OF THE NEWS MEDIA

Network TV news – appointment viewing for more than 20 million Americans – has experienced relative stability in the size of its audience over the past decade. Financially, in recent years, the news programs of the three major networks – NBC, ABC and CBS – have generated growing revenue. Explore the patterns and longitudinal data about network TV news below.

Audience

Combined average viewership for the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts remained stable, down 1% in 2016, staying at about 24 million, according to Pew Research Center analysis of Nielsen Media Research data.

Evening network news viewership

Year	Viewership
2008	22,770,000
2009	22,223,000
2010	21,467,000
2011	22,510,000
2012	22,141,000
2013	22,603,000
2014	23,650,000
2015	23,871,000
2016	23,750,000

Pew Research Center

Viewership for morning newscasts – NBC’s Today, ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS This Morning – was also stable, down 1% in 2016, staying at about 13 million.

Morning network news viewership

Year	Viewership
2008	13,053,000
2009	12,738,000
2010	12,379,000
2011	13,060,000
2012	12,591,000
2013	13,281,000
2014	13,576,000
2015	13,324,000
2016	13,195,000

Pew Research Center

The combined average audience for the network Sunday political talk shows on NBC, ABC and CBS – Meet the Press, This Week and Face the Nation, respectively – grew 14% in 2016 from the year before. This follows an 8% increase from 2014 to 2015.

There is a fourth network-based Sunday political talk show: Fox News Sunday. It airs on Fox Broadcasting Company’s affiliate stations (separate from the cable entity) and is the only national-level news programming produced by the network. When those viewership figures are included in the mix the pattern for the year is the same – 14% growth.

Sunday morning network political talk show viewership

Year	Viewership
2008	9,934,000
2009	8,927,000
2010	8,091,000
2011	8,150,000
2012	8,426,000
2013	8,407,000
2014	8,595,000
2015	9,257,000
2016	10,556,000

Pew Research Center

Combined viewership for the six newsmagazine shows aired by the networks – CBS’s 60 Minutes and 48 Hours, ABC’s 20/20 and Nightline, and NBC’s Dateline Friday and Dateline Sunday – continued to decline in 2016 down 5% from 2015.

Newsmagazine network viewership

Year	Viewership
2008	38,813,000
2009	39,173,000
2010	36,867,000
2011	36,210,000
2012	34,571,000
2013	34,146,000
2014	34,141,000
2015	32,482,000
2016	30,716,000

Pew Research Center

Economics

Advertising revenue estimates for the three evening news programs – NBC Nightly News, ABC’s World News Tonight and CBS Evening News – showed growth in 2016. For the first three quarters of 2016, combined revenues for the evening broadcast news programs were up an estimated 12% compared with the same three quarters in 2015, according to advertising revenue estimates from Kantar Media.

Evening network news revenue

Year	Revenue
2012	$335,720,000
2013	$346,430,000
2014	$352,960,000
2015	$374,721,000
2016	$420,877,000

Pew Research Center

The three networks also experienced financial growth for the morning news programs from the previous year: up 3% to an estimated $836 million in advertising revenue for the period of January-September 2016.