Once again, it was NBC’s Meet the Press with Chuck Todd that finished No. 1 among the Sunday shows.
According to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data for Sunday, Nov. 17, Meet the Press on NBC averaged 3.43 million total viewers, topping ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos by +18% (+530,000) and CBS’ Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan by +9% (+284,000) average total viewers.
MTP was also No.1 among viewers from the key A25-54 demo (781,000), beating ABC by +11% (+77,000) and beating CBS by +13% (+89,000).
An additional 1.28 million total viewers and 318,000 A25-54 viewers watched MTP through rebroadcasts on NBC and MSNBC.
Season-to-date, MTP is +1% (+23,000) among total viewers vs. this point in the prior season.
CBS’ Face the Nation (1/2-hour edition) averaged 3.14 million total viewers but 693,000 A25-54 viewers on Nov. 17. The 3.14 million total viewers is good for second place, but the A25-54 total is third-most, behind NBC and ABC.
The aforementioned ABC’s This Week remains in second place season to-date among A25-54, and took second place in the demo this past Sunday. The Nov. 17 broadcast of This Week averaged 2.9 million total viewers and ]705,000 A25-54 viewers. That’s the largest total audience since the season premiere 7 weeks ago, and a 5-week high among adults 25-54.
Season to date, This Week is leading Face the Nation in A25-54 for the 4th time in the last 5 seasons, and is cutting its year-over-year gap with MTP in the key demo by -43%.
The Nov. 17 edition of Fox News Sunday hosted by Chris Wallace on Fox delivered 1.29 million total viewers and 382,000 demo viewers. The trio of cable replays delivered 1.96 million total viewers and 289,000 A25-54 viewers. Altogether, that’s roughly 3.25 million total and 671,000 A25-54 viewers on Nov. 17.
Compared with the same Sunday in 2018, NBC was +6% in total viewers, while CBS was -6%, ABC was +8% and Fox was -22%. Among adults 25-54, NBC was -2%, CBS was -10%, ABC was +22% and Fox was -28%.
Now to be fair, Wallace interviewed President Trump for the Nov. 18, 2018 edition of Fox News Sunday, which lifted Fox News Sunday’’s ratings significantly and explains the noticeable year-over-year drop off.
The Nielsen numbers for Nov. 17, 2019:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NBC | Meet the Press | 3,426,000 | 781,000 |
| CBS | Face the Nation (1/2 hr) | 3,142,000 | 693,000 |
| ABC | This Week | 2,896,000 | 705,000 |
| FOX | Fox News Sunday | 1,334,000 | 376,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI (Total Viewers and Adults 25-54); Live + SD for 11/17/19, and 11/18/18 or as dated. Season to date: Live+SD