The Sunday show ratings race resulted in a split decision on May 20. CBS’s Face the Nation moderated by Margaret Brennan was No. 1 in total viewers, while NBC’s Meet the Press with Chuck Todd was, per usual, No. 1 among adults 25-54.
The FTN broadcast opened with CBS News correspondent Omar Villafranca reporting from Santa Fe, Texas with the latest on the high school shooting. Brennan then interviewed Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo; Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA); and Director of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow.
Despite the victory, compared to the same week last year, CBS was down double digits among both total viewers and adults 25-54.
No. 1 in the ad-friendly demo, Meet the Press is presently delivering its best winning streak in the ad-friendly demo in almost 7 years, and May 20 represents the 22nd consecutive Sunday that the NBC Sunday show has been No. 1 in the demo.
Sunday’s edition of MTP featured exclusive interviews with former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
There’s no year-over-year comparison because MTP was preempted on the comparable Sunday in 2017 due to NBC Sports’s coverage of the final Sunday of the Barclays Premier League season. This likely explains the larger-than-usual year-over-year audience drop off for ABC, Fox and especially CBS, which seems to benefit the most from a Meet the Press preemption.
ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos finished No. 3 in total viewers, and No. 2 in the key 25-54 demo. The program was -3 percent in total viewers, and -8 percent in the demo from last year; but for the 8th straight Sunday, the ABC show beat the CBS show in A25-54.
Fox News Sunday hosted by Chris Wallace actually grew among Washington DC households by +62 percent versus last year. That’s more growth than the competition. That said, the program remains mired in last place among the English language Sunday shows, and posted year-over-year audience declines, nationally.
The trio of Fox News cable replays combined for 2.55 million total viewers, and 462,000 demo viewers. Combining the cable replays with the original broadcast on Fox, the May 20 edition of FNS posted 3.9 million total viewers and 810,000 demo viewers.
Face the Nation’s second half-hour was broadcast contiguously across 82.3 percent of the CBS affiliates.
The numbers for the week of May 20:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NBC | Meet the Press | 3.041M | 844k |
| CBS | Face the Nation | 3.227M | 747k |
| ABC | This Week | 3.013M | 798k |
| FOX | Fox News Sunday | 1.358M | 348k |
As for May 2018 Sweeps, it was all about Meet the Press. MTP finished No. 1 across the board for the second consecutive sweeps period, and earned its first across-the-board May Sweeps victory (total viewers and among the younger demos) since May 2011.
CBS’s Face the Nation ranked No. 2 in total viewers and No. 3 in the key A25-54 demo during May 2018 Sweeps. ABC’s This Week was No. 2 in the A25-54 demo, and delivered its largest margin of victory in the category in a May Sweeps in 18 years (since May 2000).
Ratings were down for all of the Sunday public affairs shows in May 2018 from their May 2017 Sweeps figures.
The numbers for May 2018 Sweeps:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NBC | Meet the Press | 3.255M | 869k |
| CBS | Face the Nation | 3.146M | 715k |
| ABC | This Week | 2.913M | 786k |
| FOX | Fox News Sunday | 1.285M | 359k |