First Time in 10 Years: Three Evening Newscasts Up in Ratings

The evening newscasts have been fighting a war of attrition for years. But a particularly newsy second quarter with the Royal Wedding, the tsunami and earthquakes in Japan and the killing of Osama bin Laden has given the broadcasts a ratings shot in the arm. All three newscasts added viewers in the second quarter; the first time they have seen a collective year-over-year increase in more than ten years. Collectively, the three evening news broadcasts averaged more than 21 million viewers a week during the quarter.