Tom Llamas has officially been behind the anchor desk of NBC Nightly News for more than a month, and the ratings for his first full month as Lester Holt‘s replacement have been revealed.
For the month of June 2025, NBC Nightly News averaged around 5.674 million viewers, which was down from the 5.708 million viewers that Holt averaged at the end of his run. When Holt left the news program at the end of May, he was averaging 828,000 viewers in the 25 to 54 demo, and that number has also dipped under Llamas to 823,000.
NBC Nightly News remains behind World News Tonight With David Muir in ratings. ABC’s nightly news show averaged 7.24 million viewers in May, with that number growing to 7.308 million in June. However, the program only aired 17 times in June due to ABC airing the NBA playoffs, compared to NBC Nightly News airing 23 times.
Llamas began his tenure as the host of Nightly News on June 2 after Holt’s May 26 exit. He previously worked for various NBC affiliates, then headed over to ABC from 2014 to 2021 before returning to NBC News, where he also hosts the NBC News Now program Top Story With Tom Llamas.
“Anchoring NBC Nightly News is a profound honor and one that carries tremendous responsibility,” Llamas said in a statement. “I look forward to working with the world class journalists at Nightly News and Top Story to bring viewers the most important stories every night. Lester Holt is a great man and one of the most trusted broadcasters of our time. Just like Lester, I promise to be devoted to our viewers and dedicated to the truth.”
NBC Nightly News With Tom Llamas, Weeknights, 6:30/5:30c, NBC