ABC's 'World News Tonight With David Muir' wins a week

One week does not a trend make, but one week is still one week, and "ABC World News Tonight With David Muir" finally has one -- a full-week victory, for the first time in five years. According to figures just released, ABC won the week with 8.416 million viewers, to "Nightly News With Brian Williams' " 8.250 million.

The last time "Nightly" lost a week was late in the last decade, or 263 weeks ago (that's just over five years). For ABC, still riding high after dethroning the "Today" show, this has to be huge -- and more than simply symbolic because this win comes under the auspices of new anchor David Muir. Consider: Diane Sawyer couldn't topple "Nightly," and Muir has done it after a little more than a month on the job.

Break out the champagne? Not quite yet. 

In a statement, NBC News, conceding the loss, said: “We're proud of the quality of the broadcast we produce every night and the stories we tell. In an increasingly complex world, 'NBC Nightly News' is the place our audience can turn for credible, authoritative news they can trust.” Indeed, both of these broadcasts are very good, with their respective strengths and weaknesses, although Muir's program does seem to be an improvement over Sawyer's -- a little hard-edge, and newsier (imagine that).

Of course, that's a fleeting impression that could be proven wrong in the cold light of morning, but the simple fact does appear irrefutable: Viewers like Muir.