Sunday Show Ratings: March 31 & Q1 2013

By Merrill Knox 

On the one-year anniversary of its expansion to a full hour, CBS’ “Face the Nation” was the number one Sunday public affairs show. But “Face,” which is still rated only on the first half-hour, is down -7% in Total Viewers and -11% in A25-54 viewers year-over-year.

ABC’s “This Week” is also down across the board, -11% in Total Viewers and -10% in A25-54 viewers, compared to the same week last year. NBC’s “Meet the Press” is flat in Total Viewers and up +7% in A25-54 viewers.

Both “Fox News Sunday” and Univision’s “Al Punto” are up double digits in both ratings measurements year-over year: Fox is up +11% in Total Viewers and +41% in A25-54 viewers and Univision is up +12% and +17%, respectively.

Advertisement

Cable replays of “Fox News Sunday” averaged a combined 1,524,000 Total Viewers and 357,000 A25-54 viewers. Rebroadcasts of “Meet the Press” added 971,000 Total Viewers and 465,000 A25-54 viewers.

Note: The public affairs shows were labeled as specials March 31 due to the Easter holiday.

“Face the Nation” is based on the first half-hour only, as the full contiguous hour aired in just 50% of the country.

The numbers for March 31:

Network Program Total Viewers A25-54
CBS
“Face the Nation” 2.93M 868K
NBC
“Meet the Press” 2.61M 846K
ABC “This Week” 2.34M 770K
FOX “Fox News Sunday” 1.18M 573K
Univision “Al Punto” 735K 358K

As for the first quarter of 2013:

“Face the Nation” comes out on top by a slim margin for the quarter, averaging +140,000 Total Viewers and +6,000 A25-54 viewers more than “Meet the Press.” And as NBC continues to compete for the top spot with CBS, ABC is gaining on NBC: compared to the year-ago quarter, “This Week” slashed its margins with “Meet the Press” by -42% in Total Viewers and -26% in A25-54 viewers, its closest Q1 performance in 16 years.

The numbers for Q1 2013:

Network Program Total Viewers A25-54
CBS
“Face the Nation” 3.18M 900K
NBC
“Meet the Press” 3.04M 894K
ABC “This Week” 2.59M 744K
FOX “Fox News Sunday” 1.19M 469K
Univision “Al Punto” 876K 417K

Advertisement