Olympics-fueled ‘Nightly News’ delivers strong February

“NBC Nightly News” captured the lead in two coveted demographics for the second week in row as its network wrapped up the second week of the 2026 Winter Olympics coverage.

For the week of Feb. 16, 2026, the broadcast averaged 1.2 million viewers in the adults 25-54 demo and 872,000 in the adults 18-49 group, according to Nielsen data released by NBC.

In the adults 25-54 demo, “Nightly” beat “ABC World News Tonight” by an average of 42,000 viewers and “CBS Evening News” by 705,000. NBC’s margins in the 18-49 demo beat ABC by 29,000 and CBS by 522,000.

In total viewers, “Nightly” was still behind “World News Tonight” with 7.6 million. This handily beat “Evening” by 3.427 million and made its most-watched February in five years.

The week also marked NBC’s largest total viewer audience for the second week of a Winter Games in eight years, though this only includes two other Olympics. 

NBC also noted that “Nightly” was the only evening network newscast to post across-the-board growth season over season, but did not provide a detailed breakdown.

For the entire month to date, “Nightly” delivered its best February in five years with an average of 7.4 million viewers, while the 25-54 demo gap was narrowed by 98% over the previous year — the slimmest margin over ABC in the past seven Februarys. Demo averages were also the closest to ABC they have been in the past 18 months.

“Nightly” also beat ABC “multiple” times in the month, including the weeks of Feb. 9, 2026, and Feb. 16, though exact dates were not provided.

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NBC is typically able to boost ratings for key programming throughout an Olympics. Tom Llamas anchored “Nightly” from Italy the week of Feb. 9, but was back in New York Feb. 16, though the broadcast continued to deliver coverage of the games. 

Ratings for week of Feb. 16

• Averages 7.6 million total viewers, topping CBS by +3.427 million (+82%)
  • Outpaces competition in viewership growth vs last year (+630,000)
  • Narrows total viewer gap vs. ABC by 21% vs. last year
  • Increases total viewers vs. last season by +24,000
• Averages 1.2 million A25-54 viewers, beating ABC by +42,000 (+4%) and CBS by +705,000 (+148%)
  • Outpaces competition in A25-54 growth vs last year (+218,000)
  • “Nightly” is only evening newscast to increase A25-54 viewers vs. last season, +14,000
  • A25-54 gap vs. ABC is 48% better vs. prior year at this point in the season, marking its closest demo gap vs. the network in 6 years
• Averages 872,000 A18-49 viewers, beating ABC by +29,000 (+3%) and CBS by +522,000 (+149%)
  • Outpaces competition in A18-49 growth vs last year (+251,000)
  • Only evening newscast to increase A18-49 viewers vs. last season, +27,000
  • A18-49 gap vs. ABC is 34% better vs. prior year at this point in the season

Ratings for February 2026

• Averages 7.4 million total viewers, topping CBS by + 3.072 million (+70%)
  • Hit a 25-month high in total viewers (best since Jan 2024)
  • Grew +700,000 total viewers vs. last month , +417,000 vs. last year
  • Closed total viewer gap vs. ABC by 6% vs. last month
• Averages 1.140 million A25-54 viewers, topping CBS by +601,000 (+112%)
  • Hit a 3-year high in A25-54 viewers for February
  • Delivered its largest A25-54 audience since August 2024
  • Grew +156,000 vs. last month, +140,000 vs. last year
  • Narrowed the gap by 92% in month-over-month and by 98% in year-over-year
• Averages 820,000 A18-49 viewers, beating CBS by +411,000 (+101%)
  • Delivered its largest A18-49 audience since August 2024
  • Hit a four-year high in A18-49 viewers for February
  • Grew A18-49 viewership vs. last month by +138,000 and last year by +145,000
  • Narrowed the A18-49 gap vs. ABC by 46% in month-over-month and by 72% in year-over-year measurements