ABC 's World News Tonight evening newscast has officially overtaken underfire rival NBC 's Nightly News in the ratings war for the first time in more than five and a half years . NBC 's 288 consecutive week winning run had stetched back to September 2009 and the drop from the top spot comes two months after anchor Brian Williams received a six-month suspension for misleading viewers about his coverage of the Iraq War in 2003 . According to Nielsen ratings , ABC 's World News Tonight with David Muir attracted 84,000 more viewers for the week ending April 3 , with the show pulling in 7.997 million viewers compared to Nightly 's 7.913 million . David Muir 's World News Tonight evening newscast has officially overtaken underfire rival NBC 's Nightly News in the ratings war for the first time in more than five and a half years . As well as coming in the wake of Williams ' suspension , the switch also follows a change in how the numbers are crunched which now prevents NBC from including repeat numbers of its newscast from overnight replays . In Williams ' continued absence , well-liked veteran Lester Holt continues to fill in as substitute anchor at NBC . 'Lester Holt has led NBC Nightly News to great success over the past two months , and we continue to be pleased with his strong performance during this time , ' an NBC News spokesperson said in a statement . 'We 're proud of the caliber of our work and remain committed to delivering the highest quality broadcast for our audience every night . ' NBC 's 288 consecutive week winning run had stetched back to September 2009 and the drop from the top spot comes two months after anchor Brian Williams received a six-month suspension for misleading viewers . A source at NBC told Deadline that the news division had expected ratings volatility in the wake of Williams ' suspension . The ratings race had become very tight even before Williams ' high profile suspension . NBC remains ahead for the season with an average of 9.2 million total viewers compared to ABC 's 9.1 million . Muir , who took over from Diane Sawyer last September , has already been the number one choice among viewers aged 25-54 for the past 14 weeks . That is the demographic upon which most news programming is sold to advertisers . World News also won the week among that demographic , 1.95 million viewers compared to NBC 's 1.79 million . It 's also unclear what impact , if any , ABC 's ratings win will have on Holt 's future on the show . Many inside NBC News continue to advocate for the well-liked veteran anchor , who has been a stabilizing force at a broadcast and a news division rocked by a series of missteps . In Williams ' absence , well-liked veteran Lester Holt continues to fill in as substitute anchor at NBC and a spokesperson said the network was 'pleased with his strong performance '
World News overnight newscast has officially overtaken underfire rival NBC 's Nightly News in the ratings war . NBC 's 288 consecutive week winning run had stetched back to September 2009 and the drop comes two months after Brian Williams ' suspension . An NBC spokesperson said the network was 'pleased ' with substitute anchor Lester Holt 's 'strong performance ' Switch also follows a change in how the numbers are crunched and NBC is now prevented from including repeat numbers from Tonight evening replays .