Hours after the White House correspondents dinner ended and hours before the raid on Osama Bin Laden‘s compound began, the Sunday public affairs shows took to the air. “Meet the Press” was number one again. The NBC show as well as “FOX News Sunday” saw year-over-year improvement in total viewers. CBS’s “Face the Nation” was flat and ABC’s “This Week” was down.
The longest-serving Sunday show host Bob Schieffer celebrates 20 years as “Face the Nation” host this week. He’ll be feted at a gathering next week at the St. Regis in Washington, DC.
Cable replays of FOX News Sunday on FNC averaged a combined 2,010,000 total viewers and 441,000 A25-54 viewers. A replay of “Meet the Press” on MSNBC added 223,000 total viewers and 108,000 A25-54 viewers.
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NBC | “Meet the Press” | 3.46M | 1.09M |
| CBS | “Face the Nation” | 2.93M | 898K |
| ABC | “This Week” | 2.17M | 696K |
| FOX | “Fox News Sunday” | 1.37M | 584K |
On May 1, 2011, ABC News’ “This Week with Christiane Amanpour” drew 2.170 million Total Viewers and 696,000 Adults 25-54, according to Nielsen Media Research.
“This Week” grew week-to-week in Total Viewers (+8% – 2.170 million vs. 2.015 million).
On Sunday “This Week with Christiane Amanpour” featured an exclusive day-in-the-life report with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Chairman of the House Budget Committee, whose controversial proposals to revamp Medicare and Medicaid have provoked waves of anger at town halls in his home district and across the country.
ABC News’ George Will, Arianna Huffington of The Huffington Post, former Reagan budget director David Stockman, and Chrystia Freeland of Thomson-Reuters joined Ms. Amanpour for the roundtable discussion on the Ryan plan and what the country needs to do to get back on firm financial footing.