Evening news programs outpace prime time television

NEW YORK (AP) - The broadcast networks might want to consider promoting David Muir, Lester Holt and Norah O’Donnell, at least in the summer months.

ABC’s Muir-hosted “World News Tonight” and NBC’s “Nightly News” with Holt both averaged more viewers than any single program in prime time television last week, the Nielsen company said.

The “CBS Evening News” with O’Donnell wasn’t that far behind.

“World News Tonight” averaged 9 million viewers for its five telecasts last week. “Nightly News” had 7.6 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.3 million.

The first weeks of July are generally the least-watched in television all year, with reruns dominating the schedule and the outdoors beckoning.

Among youthful viewers aged 18-to-49, the Spanish-language network Univision beat all of the other broadcasters last week with popular telenovelas.

For the week, CBS averaged 3.4 million viewers in prime time. ABC had 2.71 million viewers, NBC had 2.66 million, Univision had 1.5 million, Fox had 1.3 million, ION Television had 1.1 million and Telemundo had 810,000

Fox News Channel led the cable networks with a prime time average of 3.2 million viewers. MSNBC had 2.13 million, CNN had 1.46 million, TLC had 1.34 million and HGTV had 1.26 million.

For the week of July 6-12, the top 20 prime time programs, their networks and viewerships:

1. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 7.05 million.

2. “NCIS,” CBS, 5.53 million.

3. “Celebrity Family Feud,” ABC, 5.13 million.

4. “FBI,” CBS, 4.63 million.

5. “Hannity” (Thursday), Fox News, 4.47 million.

6. “America’s Got Talent,” NBC, 4.39 million.

7. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Monday), Fox News, 4.3 million.

8. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Wednesday), Fox News, 4.29 million.

9. “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” ABC, 4.21 million.

10. “Hannity” (Monday), Fox News, 4.14 million.

11. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 4.135 million.

12. “The Neighborhood,” CBS, 4.12 million.

13. “Tough as Nails,” CBS, 4.1 million.

14. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Thursday), Fox News, 4.06 million.

15. “Hannity” (Tuesday), Fox News, 3.97 million.

16. “Hannity” (Wednesday), Fox News, 3.92 million.

17. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Tuesday), Fox News, 3.865 million.

18. “Titan Games,” NBC, 3.85 million.

19. “Bob Hearts Abishola,” CBS, 3.79 million.

20. “Magnum P.I.,” CBS, 3.78 million.