It was a split decision on December 16: CBS’ “Face the Nation” won in Total Viewers, but NBC’s “Meet the Press” had a very slight edge among A25-54 viewers.
The school shooting in Newtown was the main topic of conversation on the public affairs shows. Except for Univision’s “Al Punto,” the shows were up for the week.
All the shows are up compared to the same week last year, with ABC’s “This Week” showing the most growth: +22% in Total Viewers and +42% in the demographic.
Cable replays of “Fox News Sunday” averaged a combined 1,125,000 Total Viewers and 263,000 A25-54 viewers. Rebroadcasts of “Meet the Press” delivered 2,388,000 Total Viewers and 1,048,000 A25-54 viewers.
“Face the Nation” is based on the first half-hour only, as the full contiguous hour aired in just 45% of the country.
The numbers for December 16:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CBS |
“Face the Nation” | 3.77M | 1.13M |
| NBC |
“Meet the Press” | 3.49M | 1.14M |
| ABC | “This Week” | 2.82M | 947K |
| FOX | “Fox News Sunday” | 1.51M | 582K |
| Univision | “Al Punto” | 884K | 391K |