Press release from ABC News, Friday, May 30, 2014:

ABC News finished the May sweep number one in every day part, from mornings and evenings to prime time, late night, overnight and weekends. The news division continues to dominate the competition online; the Yahoo!-ABC News Network has been the number one source for news and information online for 27 consecutive months. For breaking news, hard-hitting investigations and exclusive interviews, America made ABC News its number one choice.

The last time ABC News won the May sweep across the board was 1995.

“We are extremely grateful to the viewers who place their trust in us every day and to the ABC stations for their terrific support,” said James Goldston, president, ABC News. “We have an incredible opportunity to serve our viewers with news that informs, inspires and empowers them – and we know there is much more to be done.”

Ratings highlights from the May sweep:

• “World News with Diane Sawyer” — #1 in Adults 25-54, winning first sweeps victory in more than 6 years and improving over May 2013 in both Total Viewers and Adults 25-54
• “Good Morning America” – #1 in Total Viewers and Adults 25-54, drawing largest news demo lead over NBC in more than 20 years
• “Nightline” – #1 in Total Viewers, beating NBC for the first time ever during a sweep, while leading CBS by its largest-ever sweeps margin
• “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” — #1 in Adults 25-54, winning first sweeps victory in key news demo in nearly 21 years
• “20/20” — #1 in May sweep and in final six telecasts of the season in Adults 18-49, turning in strongest May sweep performance in 7 years in Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 and in Adults 18-49 in 5 years
• For 27 consecutive months, the Yahoo!-ABC News Network has delivered more page views, total unique users and total minutes than any other online news source, making it the #1 source for news and information online
• “Good Morning America Saturday” — won the May sweeps in Total Viewers, Adults 25-54, and Adults 18-49, posting strongest-ever May sweeps numbers; “Good Morning America Sunday” posted its best-ever May sweeps performance in Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49, beating NBC in all three measures
• “America This Morning” — held the top spot in both Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 for 50th consecutive sweeps period, registering double-digit growth over the year-ago sweep in both measures
• “World News Now”– ranked No. 1 in Total Viewers and Adults 25-54, with its 9th consecutive sweeps victory in Total Viewers and 7th win in 8 sweeps in Adults 25-54
• ABC News Radio is America’s largest commercial radio network, providing news, entertainment and ABC Sports radio to approximately 1800 radio stations reaching more than 68 million listeners each week.

“ABC World News with Diane Sawyer”

“ABC World News with Diane Sawyer” won the 2014 May Sweep in Adults 25-54 (2.014 million), according to Nielsen Media Research. “World News” turned in its first sweeps victory in more than 6 years and first win during a May sweep in 7 years – since February 2008 and May 2007, respectively. In addition, “World News” led NBC’s “Nightly News” (1.972 million) by its largest news demo sweep margin (+42,000) in nearly 7 years – since July 2007.

“ABC World News” improved on May 2013 (7.245 million and 1.839 million, respectively) in both Total Viewers (+6%) and Adults 25-54 (+10%) to deliver its best May sweep performance in 3 years – since May 2011. In addition, “World News” stood as the only evening newscast to build on its news demo performance from the year-ago sweep as “CBS Evening News” (-1%) and “NBC Nightly News” (-7%) posted losses.

“World News” led CBS’ “Evening News” by 1.201 million Total Viewers and by 451,000 Adults 25-54 viewers during the May 2014 sweep, scoring its best news demo sweeps advantage in over 4 years – since November 2009.

“Good Morning America”

ABC News’ “Good Morning America” won the May 2014 Sweep in both Total Viewers (5.678 million) and Adults 25-54 (2.149 million), according to Nielsen Media Research. “GMA” turned in its first back to back May sweeps victory in 19 years in Total Viewers (since May 1994 and May 1995) and in 20 years in Adults 25-54 (since May 1993 and May 1994). In addition, the May 2014 Sweep represented “GMA’s” 8th consecutive sweeps victory in Total Viewers, while its 6th win of 7 sweeps in Adults 25-54 (“GMA” finished behind a Winter Olympics-fueled “Today” during the 2014 February sweep).

“GMA” outperformed the No. 2-ranked NBC’s “Today” (4.939 million and 2.013 million) by 739,000 Total Viewers and by 136,000 Adults 25-54. In fact, “GMA” scored its largest news demo sweep advantage over “Today” during any sweep in 20 years – since May 1994.

Compared to the year-ago May 2013 sweep (2.103 million and 1.508 million, respectively), “GMA” improved in both Adults 25-54 (+2%) and Adults 18-49 (+4%). In addition, growing over the year-ago May sweep in Adults 25-54 for the 4th straight year, “GMA” attracted its best May Sweep performance in the key adult news demo in 8 years – since May 2006. Further, “GMA” saw is best Adults 18-49 May sweep performance in 6 years – since May 2008.

“GMA” beat CBS’ “This Morning” during the month by 81% in Total Viewers (5.678 million vs. 3.144 million), while more than doubling in Adults 25-54 (+122% – 2.149 million vs. 967,000).

“Nightline”

“Nightline” ranked No. 1 for the 2014 May Sweep in Total Viewers (1.736 million), winning its first sweeps period ever in its new time slot, according to Nielsen Media Research. “Nightline” outdelivered NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers” (+106,000 – 1.630 million) to beat its NBC’s competition for the first time ever, while leading CBS’ “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” (+302,000 – 1.434 million) by its largest-ever sweeps margin.

In addition, “Nightline” led CBS’ “The Late Late Show” for the 4th time in last 5 sweeps in Adults 25-54 (+110,000 – 711,000 vs. 601,000) and the 3rd time in the last 5 in Adults 18-49 (+62,000 – 530,000 vs. 468,000), with its biggest ever sweeps margin of victories in both key adult demos.

“Nightline” improved on the previous sweep (1.593 million, 684,000 and 499,000, respectively, for February 2014) across all key target demos: Total Viewers (+9%), Adults 25-54 (+4%) and Adults 18-49 (+6%).

“Nightline” improved on its May 2013 Sweep performance in Total Viewer (+3%) to deliver the Net’s largest May sweep audience in the time slot in 12 years – since May 2002.

“This Week with George Stephanopoulos”

“This Week with George Stephanopoulos” won the 2014 May Sweep in Adults 25-54 (807,000), according to Nielsen Media Research. “This Week” scored its first sweeps victory in the key adult news demo in nearly 21 years – since July 1993.

Competitively, “This Week” posted its first May Sweeps win over NBC’s “Meet the Press” in 21 years with its largest news demo sweeps advantage (+177,000) in nearly 21 years – since May 1993 and July 1993, respectively. In addition, “This Week” outperformed CBS’ “Face the Nation” in Adults 25-54 (+15,000) during a May Sweep for the first time in 5 years – since May 2009.

In Total Viewers, “This Week” outdelivered NBC’s “Meet the Press” by 442,000 viewers to post its first May Sweep win over the NBC program in 18 years and its biggest overall viewer lead during any sweep in more than 17 years – since May 1996 and November 1996, respectively.

Improving on the year-ago sweep (May 2013) by double digits in both Total Viewers (+15% – 2.777 million vs. 2.425 million) and Adults 25-54 (+20% – 807,000 vs. 674,000), “This Week” attracted its largest overall May Sweep audience in 15 years and its strongest Adults 25-54 performance in 5 years – since May 1999 and May 2009, respectively. Further, “This Week” stood as the only public affairs program to build on its May 2013 performance as CBS’ “Face the Nation” (-5%/-7%), NBC’s “Meet the Press” (-11%/-16%) and Fox’s “Fox News Sunday” (-6%/-16%) all lost viewers.

“20/20”

During the May 2014 sweep in its 10:00 p.m. time period, ABC’s “20/20” ranked No. 1 in Adults 18-49, based on Live + Same Day data. In fact, the ABC newsmagazine led both its NBC (+100% – “Hannibal”) and CBS (+14% – “Blue Bloods”) competition in all 3 of its telecasts during the month.

“20/20” improved on its year-ago May 2013 performance across all key target demos: Total Viewers (+22%), Adults 25-54 (+9%) and Adults 18-49 (+6%), based on Most Current data. In fact, “20/20” turned in its strongest May sweep performance in 7 years in Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 and in 5 years in Adults 18-49 – since May 2007 and May 2009, respectively.

“Good Morning, America Saturday”

ABC’s “Good Morning, America Saturday” won the 2014 May sweeps in Total Viewers (4.053 million), Adults 25-54 (1.407 million) and Adults 18-49 (974,000), according to Nielsen Media Research. “GMA” posted back-to-back Total Viewer May sweep victories, while winning its first-ever May sweep in Adults 25-54. Further May 2014 marked “GMA Saturday’s” 5th consecutive sweeps victory in Total Viewers, 4th straight in Adults 25-54 and 3rd win in 4 sweeps periods in Adults 18-49. “GMA Saturday” debuted in its current format in September 2004.

Competitively, “GMA Saturday” turned in its largest-ever sweeps margins in overall viewers (+812,000) and Adults 25-54 (+297,000) over NBC’s “Saturday Today”, while delivered is best-ever May sweep margin in Adults 18-49 (+131,000). In addition, “GMA Saturday” led CBS’ “Saturday Early Show” (+2.207 million, +823,000 and +594,000, respectively) by its biggest-ever May sweeps margins in all 3 demos.

Improving on the year-ago sweep (3.631 million, 1.179 million, and 776,000, respectively, on May 2013) by double digits in Total Viewers (+12%), Adults 25-54 (+19%) and Adults 18-49 (+26%) “GMA Saturday” posted its strongest-ever May sweep numbers. Further, “GMA Saturday” grew the most in all 3 measures from its May 2013 performance compared to CBS’ “Saturday Early Show” (+6%/+4%/+5%), with NBC’s “Saturday Today” (-8%/-8%/-5%) turning in losses.

“Good Morning, America Sunday”

For the May 2014 Sweep, “Good Morning, America Sunday” posted its best-ever May sweeps performance in Total Viewers (3.620 million), Adults 25-54 (1.271 million) and Adults 18-49 (821,000) according to Nielsen Media Research. “GMA Sunday” debuted in its current format in September 2004.

“GMA Sunday” delivered increases from May 2013 (3.383 million, 1.066 million and 699,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+7%), Adults 25-54 (+19%) and Adults 18-49 (+17%). Further, “GMA Sunday” grew the most in Total Viewers and was the only program to improve in both key adult demos from the year-earlier sweep as CBS’ “Saturday Early Show” (+2%/-3%/-6%) was mixed, while NBC’s “Saturday Today” (-4%/-8%/-3%) was down in all 3 measures.

Competitively, “GMA Sunday” outperformed NBC’s “Sunday Today” by its largest-ever sweeps margins in Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 (+306,000, +251,000 and +72,000 respectively). In fact, “GMA” beat “Sunday Today” for the first time ever during any sweep in Adults 18-49.

“GMA Sunday” cut its Adults 25-54 margins with CBS’ “Sunday Morning” by double digits from both the previous sweep (-22% – 447,000 vs. 572,000 for February 2014) and the year-ago sweep (-37% – 447,000 vs. 714,000 for May 2013) to post its smallest ever news demo gap for any sweep.

“America This Morning”

ABC’s “America This Morning” ranked No. 1 during the 2014 May Sweep in both Total Viewers (1.817 million) and Adults 25-54 (771,000), according to Nielsen Media Research. This marked the 50th consecutive sweeps period (more than 12 years) that the ABC News program has held the top spot in both measures – since February 2002.

“America This Morning” registered double-digit growth over the 2013 May Sweep (1.512 million and 627,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+20%) and Adults 25-54 (+23%) to draw its most-watched May sweep in 20 years – since May 1994. The ABC program improved the most from the year-ago sweep compared to “CBS Morning News” (+7%/+7 %) and NBC’s “Early Today” (+12%/+11%). (Note: “America This Morning” was previously titled “World News This Morning” prior to November 2006).

“America This Morning” more than doubled the performance of NBC’s “Early Today” (725,000 and 331,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+151%) and Adults 25-54 (+133%). Further, “America This Morning” posted its largest sweeps margins in overall viewers (+1.092 million) and in the key adults news (+440,000) over the NBC program in more than 22 years – since before the November 1991 sweep; Nielsen’s electronic database started on September of 1991.

“America This Morning” beat “CBS Morning News” (948,000 and 412,000, respectively) by 869,000 Total Viewers and by 359,000 Adults 25-54, leading the CBS program by is largest overall viewer advantage during any sweep in over 22 years – since February 1992.

“World News Now”

ABC’s “World News Now” ranked No. 1 during the 2014 May Sweep in both Total Viewers (714,000) and Adults 25-54 (302,000), according to Nielsen Media Research. In Total Viewers, May 2014 represented “World News Now’s” 9th consecutive sweeps win and 5th in a row for May. In Adults 25-54, May 2014 stood as “World News Now’s” 7th win in the last 8 sweeps period and its 2nd straight for May.

“World News Now” beat CBS’ “Up to the Minute” (514,000 and 244,000, respectively) by 200,000 Total Viewers and by 58,000 Adults 25-54, posting its largest news demo margin over the CBS program in 4 years – since May 2010.

“World News Now” led NBC (468,000 and 249,000, respectively, with Various Network Programming) in both Total Viewers (+246,000) and Adults 25-54 (+53,000). This represents “World News Now’s” largest Total Viewer margin for any sweep and biggest news demo advantage during a May sweep both in 19 years – since May 1995.

For the 2nd year in a row, “World News Now” improved on the year-ago sweep (708,000 and 278,000, respectively, for May 2013) in Total Viewers (+1%) and Adults 25-54 (+9%), attracting its largest overall May sweep audience in 7 years – since May 2007.

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 actuals. All averages based on regular telecasts. Most Current: May 2014 Sweep (4/24-5/21/14), May 2013 (4/25-5/22/13) and February 2014 Sweep (1/30-2/26/14). Sweep periods (November, February, May and July). NOTE: Due to the digital transition, the 2009 February sweep was 3/5 – 4/1/09. “20/20” highlights based on rating for Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49.