CBS’ “Face the Nation” was the top-rated public affairs program on Jan. 18, up +52% in total viewers +62% in the key A25-54 demo, compared to the same day last year. “Face the Nation” beat runner-up “Meet the Press” by over a million total viewers, posting its largest audience since an Emmy award winning JFK episode in November 2013.
“Face the Nation” featured interviews with Prime Minister David Cameron, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), White House senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer and senior security contributor Mike Morell.
“Meet the Press” finished second in both viewers and the demo, up +7% and +17% respectively. ABC’s “This Week” was down -5% in viewers and down -7% in the demo, finishing third in both categories.
“Fox News Sunday” was up +6% in viewers but down -5% in the demo, while combining with cable replays for 2.9 million viewers with Shannon Bream was filling in for Chris Wallace. Replays on FNC averaged a combined 1.55 million total viewers and 297,000 in the demo.
“Face the Nation” is based on the first half-hour only, as the full contiguous hour aired in just 75% of the country.
The numbers for Jan. 18:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CBS |
“Face the Nation” | 4.22M | 1.17M |
| NBC | “Meet the Press” | 3.05M | 927,000 |
| ABC |
“This Week” | 2.86M | 882,000 |
| FOX | “Fox News Sunday” | 1.37M | 453,000 |
| UNIV | “Al Punto” | 668,000 | 364,000 |