Jan. 19 Sunday Show Ratings: Meet the Press Takes First Place in All Relevant Measurements

NBC’s Meet the Press remained the No. 1 Sunday politics program this past week, Jan. 19, 2020.

The Chuck Todd-moderated program, featuring Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and David Purdue (R-GA) brought in 3.32 million total viewers, +21% more total viewers than ABC’s This Week,  and +10% more than CBS’ Face the Nation.

MTP, which was the No. 1 Sunday show in 2019 as well, won in the key A25-54 demo this past week, topping ABC by +23%  and CBS by +16%

An additional 774,000 total viewers and 180,000 A25-54 viewers watched America’s most-watched public affairs program program through rebroadcasts on NBC and MSNBC.

CBS Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan was the 2nd-most-watched Sunday show among total viewers and the A25-54 demographic, while ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos took 3rd place in both key measurements.

The Jan. 19 edition of Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace on Fox averaged 1.4 million total viewers and 403,000 A25-54 viewers. The trio of cable replays delivered 2.56 million total viewers and  359,000 A25-54 viewers. Altogether, that’s roughly 4 million total viewers and 762,000 A25-54 viewers on Jan. 19.

When compared to the same Sunday in 2019, the ratings were poor. ABC was -15% in total viewers and -16% among adults 25-54. CBS was -20% in total viewers and -23% among adults 25-54. NBC, despite being No. 1, was -21% in total viewers and -30% among adults 25-54. The comparable broadcast in 2019 happened to be the most-watched for Meet the Press in over 1 year, so the year-over-year losses for MTP this past week weren’t shocking. But -30%? That’s still a lot.

Lastly, Fox News Sunday was -11% in total viewers and -10% in A25-54 viewers vs. the comparable broadcast last year.

The numbers for Jan. 19, 2020:

Source: The Nielsen Company (Live-plus-same-day data)