Injuries boost ABC newscast’s ratings

ABC’s “World News Tonight” saw a boost in its ratings in the days after anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt were seriously injured in a roadside bombing in Iraq.

The newscast drew an average viewership of more than 9.3 million people between Jan. 30 and Feb. 3, just 300,000 fewer than top-ranked “NBC Nightly News” and a boost of 7% over its season average. Until last week, the gap between the shows this season was averaging more than 1 million.

NBC drew more than 9.6 million viewers last week, down about 2% from its previous season average, while the “CBS Evening News” audience remained flat at 7.5 million viewers.