Entertainment
Lester Holt Draws More Viewers to NBC’s ‘Nightly News’
This Sept. 16, 2012 photo released by NBC shows Lester Holt on the set of “Today” in New York. (Charles Sykes/AP Photo)
(New York Times) – So far, so good for Lester Holt and NBC.
Mr. Holt won in total viewers in his first week as the official anchor of NBC’s “Nightly News.” Mr. Holt brought in eight million viewers compared to 7.7. million for ABC’s “World News Tonight.” Mr. Holt also bested David Muir’s ABC broadcast in the demographics important to advertisers. “Nightly News” had 1.97 million viewers compared to ABC’s 1.93 million viewers in the 25-to-54-year-old category, and Mr. Holt drew 1.43 million viewers among 18-to-49-year-olds, compared to Mr. Muir’s 1.32 million, according to data from Nielsen.
It was NBC’s biggest audience since April and its biggest lead in total viewers since March.
On June 18, NBC formally announced that Mr. Holt would replace Brian Williams as the chief anchor for NBC’s evening newscast, with Mr. Williams sliding over to MSNBC. Since the announcement, NBC, for the first time in earnest, has been promoting Mr. Holt as the face of its evening news broadcast. The network held off any such promotions during the four months it took to decide what to do with Mr. Williams, who was suspended for fabricating a story about his experience during a helicopter attack in Iraq.
