--- ---  # Lester Holt Kicks Off NBC _Nightly News_ Gig With a Jump in Ratings by [Katy Osborn](https://time.com/author/katy-osborn/) ## Katy Osborn Jun 30, 2015 7:44 PM UTC  Journalist Lester Holt visits SiriusXM Studios on June 29, 2015 in New York, N.Y. Journalist Lester Holt visits SiriusXM Studios on June 29, 2015 in New York, N.Y.Ben Gabbe—Getty Images by [Katy Osborn](https://time.com/author/katy-osborn/) ## Katy Osborn Jun 30, 2015 7:44 PM UTC NBC _Nightly News_ does [not](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/01/business/media/lester-holt-draws-more-viewers-to-nbcs-nightly-news.html) seem to be missing Brian Williams. Lester Holt, the _Dateline_ anchor who took Williams’ seat after the star anchor’s February suspension, drew in a total of 8 million viewers over his first official week as chief anchor last week, the New York _Times_ reports. This put the _Nightly News_ just ahead of their main competitor, ABC’s _World News Tonight,_ which led NBC in evening news viewers from April to June but received only 7.7 million viewers this past week. Williams, who was suspended after it emerged in February he had exaggerated an anecdote about coming under attack during a 2003 helicopter ride in Iraq, will remain with the company as an anchor for MSNBC despite being ousted from his evening news seat. \[[_NYT_](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/01/business/media/lester-holt-draws-more-viewers-to-nbcs-nightly-news.html?rref=business/media&module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=Technology&action=keypress®ion=FixedLeft&pgtype=article)\] Brian Williams' Nightly News Replacement: Lester Holt Draws Viewers ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3941989/nbc-nightly-news-lester-holt/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3941989/nbc-nightly-news-lester-holt/"},"headline":"Lester Holt Kicks Off NBC Nightly News Gig With a Jump in Ratings","datePublished":"2015-06-30T19:44:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:40:41.080Z","description":"Brian who?","url":"https://time.com/3941989/nbc-nightly-news-lester-holt/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte91f277d94be3847/698859263c1639b6d7458a73/nbc-nightly-news-lester-holt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katy Osborn","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katy-osborn/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte91f277d94be3847/698859263c1639b6d7458a73/nbc-nightly-news-lester-holt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"NBC-Nightly-News-Lester-Holt","caption":"NBC-Nightly-News-Lester-Holt","creditText":"Ben Gabbe—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3941989/nbc-nightly-news-lester-holt/","name":"Lester Holt Kicks Off NBC Nightly News Gig With a Jump in Ratings"}}]}] ```