David Muir receives big news on World News Tonight tenure ahead of 11th year with ABC show

The ABC News anchor has been with the network since 2003

David Muir’s tenure with World News Tonight for nearly 11 years, which began on September 1, 2014, has been one of many incredible highs, hitting another one just earlier this week.

The 51-year-old veteran TV anchor has led the primetime news show to the top of the ratings since he joined, with ABC News announcing in a new press release that World News Tonight is “the most-watched newscast in total viewers for 9th year straight.”

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David is on top of the ratings once again

The release states that it is “leading NBC by largest margin in 30 years and CBS in 4 years, and is the #1 newscast in adults 25-54 and adults 18-49 for the 6th season in a row.”

It acquired 7.424 million viewers for the week of July 28, 2025, the no.1 most watched news program for 12 straight weeks. It is followed in second place by NBC Nightly News (now with Tom Llamas) and in third place, CBS Evening News.

In April 2015, World News Tonight became the most watched news broadcast for the first time since 2009, finally beating out Nightly News. It has since remained consistently at or near the top of the ratings, being briefly outpaced earlier this year when Tom made his hosting debut in Lester Holt’s place for NBC.

Speaking with People recently, David stated that he had no intention of leaving his cushy spot anytime soon, feeling more motivated than ever to continue pursuing the world’s biggest news stories and sharing them nationwide.

“I think it’s really important to continue to try being better,” he said. “The moment you stop learning, the moment you’re no longer curious, the moment you don’t believe you can be better than you were a night ago or a week ago, is probably a time to sort of check yourself.”

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World News Tonight is “the most-watched newscast in total viewers for 9th year straight”

“I still feel like I’m that kid racing into that local newsroom all those years ago. I love this job. I love the people that I interview and get to meet, and I think that journalism is more important than ever.”

David began his career in journalism as a teenager, convincing station managers at local Syracuse newsrooms to allow him to intern with them, despite his young age and inexperience.

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David has hosted the primetime news show since September 1, 2014

“I began interning, carrying all the equipment — and back then the equipment was huge and heavy — and I’d jump into the back of the cruiser and I was honestly the happiest kid,” he happily remembered, mentioning how he would write letters to local reporters.

“Most kids were looking forward to summer vacation and I couldn’t wait to get into the back seat of that cruiser all over again,” he joked, particularly citing a childhood love for Peter Jennings on the news, the sole anchor of World News Tonight from 1983 until 2005.

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“I still feel like I’m that kid racing into that local newsroom all those years ago. I love this job.”

“All these years later, I look back on that as a defining moment in my life,” David added. “I dove headfirst and I was just lucky enough to have people around me who weren’t turned off by the kid intern.”