• March 14, 2008

The presidential race has been a boon to cable news, grabbing key adult demos. Broadcast network news, however, hasn't fared as well. Since early March, the network nightly newscasts are all down year-to-year. The sharpest declines have been among the 18-34s, who account for some of cable news' biggest gains since the primary season began. Season-to-date, the "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric" is down the most among 18-34s--off 21% from last year, according to Nielsen data analyzed by Carat. In the same span, Couric has fallen 14.6% in 25-54s and 16% among 35-64s. ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson" has slipped 13.5% among 18-34s, 5.6% with 25-54s and 3.3% with 35-64s. NBC's "Nightly News with Brian Williams" has dipped the least in 18-34s--off 10.1%, with a 7.7% fall among 25-54s anda 5% drop among 35-64s.