ABC, NBC Both Claim to Win Evening News Race

So, which network evening newscast won the not so important July sweeps.

ABC claims that they did.

NBC claims it was the Peacock that was on top.

Let the spin cycle start.

ABC News ays that ABC World News won the July sweep in the news demo, taking back-to-back sweeps among 25-54-year-olds for the first time in seven years. The network claims that the newscast, anchored by Diane Sawyer,  was the only program in its genre to improve in the news demo and among 18-49 year-olds, the division crowed, while its competitors all dropped. ABC’s newscast clocked 1.883 million news-demo viewers, to NBC’s 1.802 million and CBS’ 1.466 mil. Last July sweep, the ABC newscast finished second in the news demo clocking 1.818 million viewers, to NBC’s 1.991 million.

NBC says wait a minute! They claim that this July marked NBC Nightly News’ 28th consecutive sweep win in overall audience, with 7.786 million viewers — 408,000 more viewers than ABC’s 7.378 million and 1.732 million more than CBS’ 6.054 mil.  NBC also countered that Brian Williams’ newscast added 83,000 viewers compared to the previous July ratings derby, including a 13% hike among 18-49-year-old guys.

BC concedes that ABC’s newscast edged it out in the news demo, but NBC pointed to its sweep win among 18-49 year olds — 1.322 million to ABC’s 1.279 mil.  NBC’s newscast has finished first in the younger demo ratings for 29 straight sweeps periods.

And that my friends is your daily spin. 

H/T Deadline