ABC Beats Brian Williams’ Friday Newscast Ratings

NEW YORK — Brian Williams’ nightly newscast on NBC was beaten soundly in the ratings by ABC’s “World News Tonight” on Friday, two days after Williams apologized for telling a false story about being in a helicopter hit by a grenade in Iraq 12 years ago.

The Nielsen company said that ABC’s broadcast had 8.46 million viewers on Friday, while NBC’s “Nightly News” had just under 8 million. Williams anchored the newscast for NBC.

While it’s not unusual for ABC to win some individual days in the ratings, NBC has been consistently winning on a week-to-week basis. On the previous Friday evening, ABC also won in the ratings by almost 400,000 viewers. News of Williams’ Iraq tale came out on Wednesday of last week.

Allison Leslie is a University of South Florida graduate with a bachelors degree in Mass Communications. She joined Genesis in 2016. With a passion for sports, Allison has interned with 620 WDAE, Pewter Report, Trifecta Team: St. Petersburg Bowl, Bullscast, and many other publications. Being a native to the Bay Area, she has followed and supported Tampa Bay teams her whole life.