ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos was the No. 1 Sunday show on July 23rd. The Emmy-nominated program posted +6 percent growth in total viewers and +2 percent growth in the key A25-54 demo versus the comparable Sunday last year (July 24, 2016). Season to date, This Week is improving in total viewers (+1 percent) versus the same point last season, and is drawing its largest overall audience in 18 years.
CBS’s Face the Nation with John Dickerson finished second in all key categories, posting an -11 percent year-over-year decline both in total viewers and in the key demo.
Fox News Sunday hosted by Chris Wallace posted +7 percent growth in total viewers and solid +36 percent growth in demo viewers from the comparable Sunday last year.
NBC’s Meet the Press with Chuck Todd was pre-empted due to NBC Sports’s coverage of the 2017 British Open golf tournament.
It seems as though many of the viewers who regularly tune into Meet the Press headed over to This Week and Fox News Sunday, as opposed to Face the Nation.
Univision’s Al Punto hosted by Jorge Ramos delivered more millennial viewers than Face the Nation and Fox News Sunday this past week, and is reporting year-over-year audience growth this season among total viewers (+9 percent) and Adults 25-54 (+7 percent).
The numbers for July 23, 2017:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | This Week | 3.230 M | 874,000 |
| CBS | Face the Nation | 3.123 M | 656,000 |
| FOX | Fox News Sunday | 1.472 M | 442,000 |
| UNI | Al Punto | 722,000 | 311,000 |
| NBC | Meet the Press | Pre-empted | Pre-empted |
*Meet the Press was pre-empted this past Sunday due to NBC Sports’ coverage of the British Open.
Each of the Sunday public affairs shows posted year-over-year audience losses during the July 2017 sweeps period.
Meet the Press with Chuck Todd and the half-hour edition of Face the Nation with John Dickerson finished in a statistical tie when it came to average total viewers during July 2017 sweeps.
MTP was the go-to Sunday show among adults 25-54 in July 2017, and won its 8th consecutive sweeps period in the demo. Season to-date, Meet the Press is the No. 1 Sunday show across the board, per Nielsen.
That said, NBC’s Sunday political show was -12 percent in the demo, and -7 percent in total viewers versus its July 2016 sweeps ratings,
Face the Nation was -9 percent in total viewers and down -17 percent in the demo from the most-recent July sweeps period. FTN finished third in the demo.
This Week with George Stephanopoulos finished behind MTP and Face the Nation in total viewers, and finished No. 2 behind NBC in the key A25-54 demographic. This Week was -4 percent in total viewers versus July 2016 sweeps. ABC’s Sunday public affairs show also saw -11 percent decline in the aforementioned demo.
Fox News Sunday hosted by Chris Wallace was -7 percent in total viewers and -12 percent in the news demo relative to its July 2016 sweeps performance.
The numbers for July 2017 Sweeps:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NBC | Meet The Press | 2.996 M | 889,000 |
| CBS | Face the Nation (1/2 hr) | 2.996 M | 650,000 |
| ABC | This Week | 2.847 M | 752,000 |
| FOX | Fox News Sunday | 1.250 M | 375,000 |
| UNI | Al Punto | N/A | N/A |
*Al Punto averages will be added when made available.