ABC tops NBC news in demo on final night of Games

ABC’s “World News with Diane Sawyer” pulled off an Olympic-sized victory Friday.

“World News” beat “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” in the key adults 25-54 demo on the final weeknight of the Olympics, giving the newscast its first win over NBC during a Winter Games since 2006 in Torino.

“Wprod” averaged 1.96 million viewers 25-54 on Friday, according to Nielsen, yust ahead of “Nightly’s” 1.93 million.

ABC trailed NBC by 398,000 viewers 25-54 during week two of the Olympics, compared to a gap of 1 million viewers in the demo during the same week of the 2010 Vancouver Games.

NBC did finish first during the week ended Feb. 23 with an average of 10.40 million total viewers and 2.61 million 25-54s, followed by ABC at 8.01 million viewers and 2.21 million 25-54s and “CBS Evening News” at 7.12 million viewers and 1.81 million 25-54s.

Season-to-date “World News” is up 3 percent among both total viewers and 25-54s, making it its most-watched season in five years and best performance in 25-54s in three years.

Tags: 2012 top news stories, abc world news, nbc, nbc news, nbc nightly news