NBC’s Meet the Press with Chuck Todd was the No. 1 Sunday public affairs show across the board this past week (May 5), marking the show’s 12th straight win in total viewers and 65th consecutive win in the A25-54 key demo.
According to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data, “the longest-running show on television” averaged nearly 3.1 million total viewers last Sunday, which is +8% more than CBS, and +23% more than ABC. The broadcast averaged 697,000 A25-54 viewers, +15% more than ABC and +19% than CBS.
An additional 812,000 total viewers and 203,000 A25-54 viewers watched the Sunday broadcast through re-runs on NBC and MSNBC.
Season-to-date, MTP is the No. 1 Sunday politics show, delivering its best total viewer lead over ABC in seven years and CBS in eight years.
CBS’ Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan and ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos split second place honors. CBS finished No. 2 this past Sunday in total viewers, while ABC was the second-most-watched in the demo.
Fox News Sunday hosted by Chris Wallace averaged 1.22 million total viewers and 317,000 A25-54 viewers on Fox. The cable re-runs delivered a combined 2.58 million total viewers and 413,000 A25-54 viewers. All together, that’s roughly 3.8 million total viewers and 730,000 demo viewers on May 5.
When compared to the same Sunday in 2018, NBC was -10 % in total viewers, CBS was flat in total viewers, ABC was -13%, and Fox was +2%. In the A25-54 demo, NBC was -22%, CBS was -15%, ABC was -21%, and Fox was -5% vs. the comparable week last year.
Below are the numbers for May 5:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NBC | Meet the Press | 3,070,000 | 697,000 |
| CBS | Face the Nation (1/2 hr) | 2,838,000 | 583,000 |
| ABC | This Week | 2,502,000 | 603,000 |
| FOX | Fox News Sunday | 1,215,000 | 317,000 |