NBC’s Meet the Press continued its winning streak this past week, averaging roughly 3.1 million total viewers and 747,000 A25-54 demo viewers.
Hosted by Chuck Todd, the No. 1 Sunday of the broadcast season to-date topped main rivals CBS’ Face the Nation by +6% in Total Viewers (+174,000) and ABC’s This Week by +18% (+482,000). When it came to the Adults 25-54 set, MTP beat Face the Nation by +24% (+145,000), and earned a win over This Week (+29% – +167,000).
An additional 883,000 total viewers and 174,000 A25-54 viewers watched the Sunday program through rebroadcasts on NBC and MSNBC.
Face the Nation bounced back this past Sunday after a significant loss to its ABC counterpart the prior Sunday. The Margaret Brennan-led program took second place, both in Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 after finishing in 3rd across the board on Feb. 9. Face the Nation is the second-most-watched Sunday public affairs show, season to-date.
ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos took 3rd place across the board, but is No. 2 in the A25-54 demo season to-date. In fact, it’s leading FTN in the demo at this point of the broadcast season for the 4th time in the last 5 seasons.
The Fox broadcast version of News Sunday with Chris Wallace delivered 1.26 million total viewers and 356,000 A25-54 viewers. The cable replays delivered 3 million viewers and 443,000 demo viewers. Althoer, that’s roughly 4.3 million viewers and 799,000 demo viewers on Feb. 9.
FNS pre-empted in Birmingham, Ala., and San Francisco markets.
All in all, numbers were poor compared to the same Sunday 1 year ago. Fox News Sunday was -25% in Total Viewers, and -19% in Adults 25-54. Wallace had Rush Limbaugh as a guest that week, a booking which undoubtedly boosted the show’s numbers.
ABC’s This Week was -15% in Total Viewers and -22% in Adults 25-54. CBS’ Face the Nation was -12% in Total Viewers and -21% in Adults 25-54, while top-ranked NBC’s Meet the Press was still -18% in Total Viewers and -24% in Adults 25-54 from last year.
Yikes.
The Nielsen numbers for Feb. 16 2020:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NBC | Meet the Press | 3,142,000 | 747,000 |
| CBS | Face the Nation (1/2 hr) | 2,968,000 | 602,000 |
| ABC | This Week | 2,660,000 | 580,000 |
| FOX | Fox News Sunday | 1,260,000 | 356,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI (Total Viewers and Adults 25-54); Live + SD for 2/16/20, and 2/17/19 or as dated. Most Current: 2019 -2020 Season (9/23/19 – 2/16/20) and 2018 -2019 Season (9/24/19 – 2/17/19). Averages based on regular telecasts.