It was a slow week for the Sunday public affairs shows. Not only was Meet the Press with Chuck Todd pre-empted due to NBC Olympics action (MTP returns on August 28), but ABC, CBS and FOX also fell from the same Sunday last year (August 23).
Face the Nation with John Dickerson beat This Week and Fox News Sunday in total viewers. That said, the program fell 10 percent in total viewers and 4 percent in the news demo from the same Sunday in 2015 (The CBS program took itself out of the Nielsen average this past Sunday).
This Week with George Stephanopoulos finished ahead of Face the Nation and Fox News News Sunday in the key A25-54 demo. The program fell 5 percent in total viewers and 2 percent in the news demo from the comparable episode last year. That said, This Week improved 40 percent in the demo and 27 percent in total viewers versus the comparable telecast opposite the NBC 2012 London Olympics.
With Shannon Bream filling in for Chris Wallace, Fox News Sunday fell 8 percent in total viewers, and fell 15 percent in the news demo from the same Sunday last year. Combining the original telecast on FOX with only 1 cable replay, Fox News Sunday delivered 2.49 million total viewers, with 584,000 hailing from the news demo on Sunday, 8/21/2016.
Al Punto delivered a 4 percent boost in the A 25-54 demo from the comparable Sunday last year. It remained flat in A18-49. The Jorge Ramos-hosted program also continues to attract more millennial viewers than CBS or FOX.
Editor’s Note: Face the Nation’s second half-hour was broadcast contiguously across 78.31 percent of the CBS affiliates.
The numbers for August 21:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CBS | Face the Nation | 3.16 M | 761,000 |
| NBC | Meet the Press | Pre-empted | Pre-empted |
| ABC | This Week | 3.03 M | 922,000 |
| FOX | Fox News Sunday | 1.3 M | 367,000 |
| UNIV | Al Punto | 625,000 | 298,000 |