In the Most Important Advertising Sales Category of Adults 25-54,

The CBS EVENING NEWS is Up +35% and Places First in the Demographic

For a Full Month for the First Time in 19 Years

Growth Continues Last Week with Double-Digit Gains in all Measures

CBS Also Leads in Adults 18-49 for the Month and Posts an Increase of +23%

Growth Reverses Historic Pattern of First-Month Losses When Anchors Change

NBC and ABC Suffer Significant Losses in All Categories Year-to-Year

        In its first month on the air, the CBS EVENING NEWS WITH KATIE COURIC has achieved unprecedented double-digit, across-the-board gains in each of 14 different Nielsen measurements compared to the same period last year.  Most significantly, in the most important demographic used in television advertising sales--adults 25-54--the broadcast is up a remarkable +35% and in first place, the first time the broadcast has placed first in the demo for a full month in 19 years (October 1987).  In adults 18-49, the CBS EVENING NEWS is up an impressive +23% and in first place.  In the first month, the broadcast has also grown in households (+21%) and total viewers (+22%) compared to the same period a year ago.

            The pattern of growth continued last week (Sept. 25-29), as CBS was up +10% in households, up +14% in total viewers, up +40% in adults 25-54 and tied for first place for the  week, and up +36% in adults 18-49 and in a three-way tie for first place compared to the same period a year ago.  NBC and ABC both posted declines in all of those measures last week.

            The results for the full month (Sept. 5-29) are as follows:

Category                       CBS Change     NBC Change    ABC Change

Households                 +21%              -17%               -10%

Total Viewers             +22%              -14%               -11%

Adults 25-54               +35%              -23%               -17%

Women 25-54               +32%               -23%                -20%

Men 25-54                    +33%               -18%                -16%   

Adults 18-49               +23%              -25%               -12%

Women 18-49               +36%               -26%                -14%

Men 18-49                    +18%               -13%                -15%

Adults 18+                    +20%               -15%                -11%

Women 18+                  +18%               -17%                -12%

Men 18+                       +24%               -14%                -10%

Adults 55+                    +14%               -14%                  -8%

Women 55+                  +10%               -13%                -10%

Men 55+                       +20%               -16%                  -6%

            Even with the first week's atypical and inflated numbers extracted, the average of weeks two through four tell the same success story:  CBS was up +24% in adults 25-54 and tied for first place and was up +23% in adults 18-49 and in first place compared to the same period last year.  Both NBC and ABC were down double-digits in both categories.  When the first week's data are deleted, the CBS EVENING NEWS' results in households and total viewers also follow the same pattern of growth:  the broadcast is up +13% in households and up +13% in total viewers versus the same period a year ago, while NBC and ABC both experienced declines in those measurements.

            The history of network anchor changes confirms the CBS EVENING NEWS' achievements to be equally as remarkable as the broadcast's demographic and audience growth, especially at a time when the competition for viewers has increased dramatically.  In the last two decades, a change in anchor has resulted in modest gains the first week but a decline in the first month's average.  In households, the changes of the first-month average of the new anchors compared to the same period a year earlier are:  Dan Rather/CBS (1981)--down -4%, Peter Jennings/ABC (1983)--down -7%, Tom Brokaw/NBC (1983)-flat, and Brian Williams/NBC (2004)--down -4%.  Additionally, Charles Gibson's first four weeks as anchor of ABC's "World News" (four weeks beginning May 29, 2006) was down -7% compared to the same period last year.*

            Comparatively, Couric's full first-month average in households is up +21%.

* The anchor changes included in this data are:  Dan Rather replacing Walter Cronkite at CBS (March 9, 1981); Peter Jennings replacing Max Robinson/Frank Reynolds/Jennings at ABC (Aug. 9, 1983); Tom Brokaw replacing Roger Mudd/Brokaw at NBC (Sept. 5, 1983); Brian Williams replacing Brokaw at NBC (Dec. 2, 2004); and Charles Gibson replacing Elizabeth Vargas/Bob Woodruff (May 29, 2006).