As the historic 2016 presidential campaign continues to play out on TV, the Sunday public affairs shows are seeing huuuuge ratings.
CBS’s Face the Nation with John Dickerson, the most-watched Sunday show, had its best February since 1991. This Week with George Stephanopoulos had its best sweep since November 2000 and best in the demo since November 2008. Meanwhile, NBC’s Meet the Press with Chuck Todd, which won the month in the A25-54 demo, had its best February since 2008, when the late Tim Russert was the moderator. MTP also showed the most growth vs. Feb. 2015: up +24 percent in viewers and up +23 percent in the demo.
Last Sunday, two days before Super Tuesday, more than 13 million viewers tuned in to the 5 Sunday shows. CBS drew the most viewers, while NBC won the demo.
Cable replays of Fox News Sunday on FNC averaged a combined 2,898,000 viewers and 618,000 in the demo.
Face the Nation is based on the first half-hour only, as the full contiguous hour aired in just 77.65 percent of the country.
The numbers for February 28:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CBS | Face the Nation | 3.855M | 1.025M |
| NBC | Meet the Press | 3.813M | 1.154M |
| ABC | This Week | 3.347M | 1.008M |
| FOX | Fox News Sunday | 1.593M | 502,000 |
| UNIV | Al Punto | 900,000 | 458,000 |