“NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” finished 2016 as the most-watched evening newscast, winning all major categories to cap a huge year for Holt.
“I’m so proud of the entire Nightly News team and grateful to our viewers for a remarkable year,” executive producer Sam Singal told TheWrap. “We delivered the finest reporting on the election, broke major stories and spent the summer in Rio without missing a beat, producing a broadcast of the highest quality night after night.”
It was a big year for Holt, who also moderated the most-watched debate in U.S. history, was named to the TIME 100, anchored all of NBC News’ top-rated primetime political coverage, spent more than two weeks anchoring from Rio during the Olympics, and traveled around the world for breaking news.
“NBC Nightly News” averaged 8.5 million total viewers in 2016, topping ABC’s “World News Tonight” by two percent and CBS’ “Evening News” by 22 percent. Among the key news demo of adults age 25-54, NBC averaged 2.1 million viewers, topping ABC by 14 percent and CBS by 31 percent.
“Our 2016 success is also a credit to Lester for his skills as a journalist and a leader, on and off the air, he energizes and inspires the staff. After a strong finish to 2016, we can’t wait to see what 2017 will bring,” Singal said.
2016 is the ninth consecutive year that “NBC Nightly News” won across the board despite switching anchors from Brian Williams to Holt during the win streak.