Heading into the first votes of the 2016 presidential primaries, the Sunday public affairs shows are hitting their stride with viewers, as all shows saw double digit growth compared to the same Sunday last year. The shows also got a boost from the millions of residents snowed in by the weekend blizzard.
Face the Nation with John Dickerson, which included guest Donald Trump, was first in viewers, while Meet the Press with Chuck Todd took the A25-54 demo and showed the most demo growth: up +57 percent vs. last year. In her first Sunday as co-moderator, Martha Raddatz boosted ABC’s This Week by +33 percent in viewers and +20 percent in the demo, vs. Jan. 25, 2015. Fox News Sunday saw the most viewer growth: up +37 percent (following moderator Chris Wallace‘s unconventional commute on Sunday).
Cable replays of Fox News Sunday on Fox News Channel averaged a combined 1,167,000 viewers and 213,000 in the demo.
Face the Nation is based on the first half-hour only, as the full contiguous hour aired in just 57.8 percent of the country.
The numbers for January 24:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CBS | Face the Nation | 4.371 M | 1.159 M |
| NBC | Meet the Press | 4.104 M | 1.316 M |
| ABC | This Week | 3.642 M | 1.117 M |
| FOX | Fox News Sunday | 1.656 M | 503,000 |
| UNIV | Al Punto | 1.137 M | 560,000 |