David Muir on overcoming a 'polarizing time' to be America's #1 nightly newscast | Exclusive - USA Today
It's no secret that the TV news landscape is in a state of turmoil. NBC's evening anchors recently had a passing of the torch, CBS News is getting overhauled completely and network TV audiences are turning away to plenty of other distractions. So why has David Muir on ABC survived so long?
"After all this time, we have built this profound connection with our audience," the "World News Tonight" anchor tells USA TODAY in an exclusive interview. "I hear it when I'm walking down the street. People will say, 'Hey, I feel like I know you.' And I always say, 'You do.'"
That genuine connection seems to be working. ABC's βWorld News Tonight with David Muirβ (airing daily, 6:30 p.m. ET) is now televisionβs most-watched evening newscast for 10 consecutive years, drawing 8.3 million total viewers during the 2025-2026 season that ended Sept. 13, which is up 6% from the previous season, according to a press release from ABC, citing Nielsen Media Research. In that period, the show spent 33 of 52 weeks as the No. 1 program in total viewers on all of broadcast and cable (with and without sports). And for the seventh straight year, it leads all key target demographics for evening newscasts, including Adults 25-54 (1.048 million viewers) and Adults 18-49 (770,000).
"I do feel a sense of responsibility in this moment, [amid] all of this incoming noise, to be the place that makes sense of it all β or at least tries to," Muir, 52, says. "I consider it a gift to be able to try to connect people to one another, even in what has been a polarizing time for quite some time now."
"When it's night after night, year after year, never underestimate the audience," Muir adds. "They can see how you interact with people, how you embrace them, how you treat them, particularly in challenging moments, and really how you listen to them."
It's not just the broadcast and cable viewership numbers where the show has seen success. On social media, "World News Tonight" has grown across all platforms with 3.18 billion views during the 2025-2026 season (up 13% from the 2024-2025 season) and currently claims the No. 1 spot among network evening news shows on YouTube.
"We're meeting people where they are," Muir explains of the growing audience. "There's an extraordinary opportunity out there to stay connected with the people who have been watching for years, and then grow the audience [and] bring along the next generation."
"Our viewers will find us through all of the distractions and noise," he notes. "They have for many, many years, and they continue to do so."
Though reaching younger audiences through YouTube and TikTok has become a goal of many networks and businesses nowadays, Muir says it isn't an intentional aspect of his reporting. Instead, he leans into what makes "World News Tonight" unique: its longer-form feature stories and the "America Strong" segment, which highlights the good in humanity and ends every episode on a positive note.
"I really sense that there's a void out there, that there's a real hunger in this country for connection," Muir says. "It's our job to provide for folks who are looking for that connection, to β¦ be the place where people can root for their neighbors, root for a community doing something spectacular for someone down the street, these small-town triumphs."
As he looks ahead, Muir can't help but think back on how far he's come.
After starting his career working at smaller stations in Syracuse and Boston, Muir joined the ABC News family in 2003. He succeeded Diane Sawyer at the "World News Tonight" desk in 2014, and along the way, he's reported on everything from wars and natural disasters to presidential elections and a new Pope.
"I do believe I'm still that kid, that nerd from upstate New York. The 13-year-old intern who went to the TV station and carried all of the equipment to whatever shoot they would send me to," he says. "I don't, for a moment, take it for granted β any of it. I have as much hunger and excitement about what could come next as I did when I was showing up at that TV station as a kid."
Despite his impressive roster of interviews, Muir says his most memorable moments from his "World News Tonight" tenure are the ones off-camera. He cites a recent reunion he helped facilitate between a woman who survived 9/11 and the son of her colleague who died in the attacks.
"Those are the moments that sort of crystallize what it is we do," he says.
And even with all of his success, Muir still keeps some things close to the chest β namely, who he's gunning to interview next.
"Well, if I told you, I might not be able to land it. The competition's fierce," he says with a smile. "Stay tuned is what I'll say to that. We're always working on it."
