NBC’s Meet the Press with Chuck Todd was the most-watched and top-rated Sunday public affairs program on October 2, both in total viewers and in the key A25-54 demo.
ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, which won opening week of the 2016-2017 season in the news demo, slipped to No. 2 in both categories. That said, its 3.77 million total viewer average from Sunday’s episode represents the show’s most-watched telecast in more than 7 1/2 years (since Jan. 11, 2009).
CBS’ Face the Nation was sidelined for the week due to NFL action in London.
NBC apparently benefited more from the CBS preemption than ABC. Meet the Press delivered a 7 percent improvement in total viewers and a 30 percent improvement in A25-54 compared to the same Sunday in 2015, while This Week improved 1 percent in total viewers but fell 8 percent in the news demo. Face the Nation was also preempted due to the NFL in London the same Sunday last year.
Fox News Sunday on FOX delivered a 6 percent bump in total viewers and a 16 percent bump in the key news demo compared to the same Sunday in 2015. The trio of cable replays delivered a combined 2.44 million total viewers, (438,000 A25-54) for the 2 p.m., 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. replays. Altogether, the Oct. 2 edition of Fox News Sunday delivered 3.93 million total viewers, 906,000 hailing from the A25-54 demo.
Al Punto delivered double-digit year-over-year gains in all of the relevant categories: Total Viewers (+14 percent), Adults 18-34 (+15 percent), Adults 18-49 (+35 percent), and the ad-friendly news demo of Adults 25-54 (+13 percent).
The numbers for October 2:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NBC | Meet the Press | 4.19 M | 1.16 M |
| CBS | Face the Nation* | — | — |
| ABC | This Week | 3.77 M | 980,000 |
| FOX | Fox News Sunday | 1.49 M | 468,000 |
| UNIV | Al Punto | 826,000 | 399,000 |
*The Indianapolis Colts vs. Jacksonville Jaguars game telecast from London pre-empted Face the Nation across CBS affiliates