According to the most up-to-date live-plus-same-day numbers from Nielsen, NBC’s Meet the Press with Chuck Todd was the No. 1 Sunday show on Aug. 9, topping ABC, CBS and Fox in Total Viewers and beating each network by double-digit percentage points in the A25-54 demo.
The first-run broadcast of MTP on Aug. 9 averaged 3.20 million Total Viewers. That figure is +17% (+456,000) more than ABC’s This Week, but only +1% (+23,000) more than CBS’ Face the Nation.
Among the A25-54 demo, the money-making demographic, MTP won by a more comfortable margin. The first-run broadcast averaged 692,000 viewers, which is +20% (+115,000) more than This Week and +27% (+146,000) more than Face the Nation.
An additional 1.103 million total viewers and 221,000 A25-54 viewers watched the Sunday program through rebroadcasts on NBC and MSNBC.
The half-hour edition of CBS’ Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan was the No. 2 Sunday public affairs program in Total Viewers (3.18 million), but finished No. 3 behind NBC and ABC in the key A25-54 demo (546,000).
ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos averaged 2.75 million Total Viewers, fewer than NBC and CBS, to go with 577,000 A25-54, which is more than CBS.
The Fox TV broadcast of Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace delivered 1.46 million Total Viewers and 389,000 A25-54 viewers. The cable replays combined for 3.345 million Total Viewers and 586,000 A25-54 viewers. Combined with the first-run broadcast, that’s roughly 4.8 million Total Viewers and 975,000 A25-54 viewers tuning in to FNS on Aug. 9.
The broadcast included interviews with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and White House Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, which explains the significant year-over-year growth.
How did the shows perform relative to the comparable Sunday in 2019? Meet the Press was +13% Total Viewers, but -4% in the demo. For Face the Nation, the broadcast was +23% in Total Viewers and -2% in the demo. This Week was +3% in Total Viewers, but -5% in the demo. The outlier is Fox News Sunday, which was +36%, both in Total Viewers and in the demo.
Total audience for the Sunday shows is up year over year, while the Adults 25-54 audience is largely down. The trend difference is striking. The Sunday show audience is getting older. No other way to put it.
Aug. 9, 2020 Sunday Public Affairs Show Ratings (Nielsen, live-plus-same-day):
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NBC | Meet the Press | 3,203,000 | 692,000 |
| CBS | Face the Nation (1/2 hr) | 3,180,000 | 546,000 |
| ABC | This Week | 2,747,000 | 577,000 |
| FOX | Fox News Sunday | 1,457,000 | 389,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI (Total Viewers and Adults 25-54); Live + SD for 8/9/20, 8/2/20 and 8/11/19 or as dated. Most Current: 2019 -2020 Season (9/23/19 – 8/9/20) and 2018 -2019 Season (9/24/19 – 8/11/19). Averages based on regular telecasts.