NBC’s Meet the Press returned to the No. 1 spot in the ratings rankings, with some help from President Trump.
This was POTUS’ first MTP interview since entering office.
Whatever one may have thought of the interview (and the reviews of Chuck Todd‘s performance have been mixed), the numbers show that MTP was the only Sunday public affairs program to deliver more than three million total viewers on June 23, topping both ABC and CBS by double-digits. With 3.1 million total viewers tuning in, MTP led ABC’s This Week by +25% and Face the Nation by +27%.
MTP also won in the A25-54 demo, the one most valued by news advertisers, again topping both ABC and CBS by double-digits. 754,000 A25-54 demo viewers tuned into the Sunday program: +20% more than ABC and +69% more than CBS.
An additional 1.355 million total viewers and 267,000 A25-54 viewers watched the Sunday program through rebroadcasts on NBC and MSNBC.
ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos finished in second place, ahead of CBS this past week. This ABC Sunday show knocked off Face the Nation in total viewers (+42,000) and adults 25-54 (+184,000), turning in its largest news demo lead in 11 months – since July 29 of last year.
After a great Sunday, CBS’ Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan fell back down to Earth. The program slipped to third place this past Sunday.
Fox News Sunday hosted by Chris Wallace delivered 1.16 million total viewers and 320,000 A25-54 demo viewers on the Fox network. The cable replays delivered a combined 2.27 million total viewers and 397,000 demo viewers. Altogether, that’s roughly 3.42 million viewers and 717,000 demo viewers on June 23.
Versus the comparable Sunday in 2018, NBC was +7% in total viewers, ABC was -6%, CBS was -7%, and Fox was massive +38%. In the A25-54 demo, NBC was +3%, ABC was -5%, CBS was -10%, and Fox was +8% vs. the comparable Sunday last year.
The comparable edition of Fox News Sunday in 2018 was pre-empted in many markets because of the FIFA Men’s World Cup, which explains the huge year-over-year ratings gap.
The numbers for June 23:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NBC |
Meet the Press | 3,100,000 | 754,000 |
| ABC | This Week | 2,486,000 | 630,000 |
| CBS | Face the Nation | 2,444,000 | 446,000 |
| FOX | Fox News Sunday | 1,156,000 | 320,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI (Total Viewers and Adults 25-54); Live + SD for 6/23/19, and 6/24/18 or as dated. Season to date: Most Current: 2018 -2019 Season (9/24/18 – 6/23/19) and 2017-2018 Season (9/25/17 – 6/24/18). Averages based on regular telecasts.