Viewers primarily turned to CBS and NBC for their fix of Sunday public affairs programming in November. ABC grew year-over-year during sweeps, and the Nov. 20 episode of Fox News Sunday delivered the series’ largest total audience in 10 years.
Face the Nation with John Dickerson ranked No. 1 in total viewers on November 20. The program gained +27 percent in total audience and +45 percent in the key news demo from the comparable Sunday in 2015. (Nov. 22). FTN also ranked No. 1 in total viewers for November 2016 sweeps, improving by +19 percent in the category from November 2015. FTN also improved by +25 percent in the demo from Nov. 2015.
NBC’s Meet the Press with Chuck Todd was No. 1 in the key A25-54 demo, both on November 20 and for November 2016 sweeps. MTP grew +7 percent in total audience and +22 percent in the news demo from the comparable Sunday in 2015. The show grew +11 percent in total viewers and +23 percent in the demo this month from its November 2015 sweeps performance. MTP delivered its best November sweeps across the board since November 2008.
ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos finished No. 3 both in total audience and A25-54 on November 20. The program also ranked No. 3 in both categories for November 2016 sweeps. This Week slipped -1 percent in total viewers, and -8 percent in the demo on November 20 from the same Sunday in 2015. The program gained +5 percent in total viewers and +3 percent in the news demo from its November 2015 sweeps performance. This Week is drawing its largest overall audience in 15 years and its strongest news demo performance in 8 years – since the 2001-02 and the 2008-09 seasons.
Nearly 2 million total viewers tuned into Fox News Sunday across FOX broadcast stations on Nov. 20, per Nielsen. FNS gained +1 percent in total viewers and +3 percent in the news demo from the same Sunday last year. The episode featured an interview with Vice-president elect Mike Pence as well as Senate Democratic Minority Leader-elect Sen. Chuck Schumer. The three cable replays on FNC delivered 3,801,000 total viewers and 784,000 A25-54 viewers for the 2 p.m., 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. replays. Altogether, the Nov. 20 episode hauled in 5.75 million total viewers and 1.35 million A25-54.
Al Punto had another strong week relative to the same week in 2015, +23 percent in total audience, +25 percent among viewers 18-34 and +8 percent in the ad-friendly 25-54 demo. The program continues to deliver double-digits percent gains this season to-date among adults 18-34 (+33 percent) and adults 25-54 (+10 percent).
Editor’s Note: Face the Nation’s second half-hour was broadcast contiguously across 58.7% of the CBS affiliates.
The numbers for November 20:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CBS | Face the Nation | 4.08 M | 1.06 M |
| NBC | Meet the Press | 3.64 M | 1.08 M |
| ABC | This Week | 3.41 M | 887,000 |
| FOX | Fox News Sunday | 1.95 M | 568,000 |
| UNIV | Al Punto | 927,000 | 423,000 |
The numbers for November Sweep:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CBS | Face the Nation | 4.04 M | 1.01 M |
| NBC | Meet the Press | 3.81 M | 1.19 M |
| ABC | This Week | 3.42 M | 937,000 |
| FOX | Fox News Sunday | 1.81 M | 576,000 |
| UNIV | Al Punto* |