There was a split decision in the Sunday politics show ratings race on November 12, with CBS moving back to No. 1 in total audience, and NBC maintaining a firm grip on the A25-54 news demo.
All of the shows were down year-over-year, which makes sense considering the comparable Nielsen week in 2016 was the final Sunday before the presidential election.
Moderated by John Dickerson, CBS’s Face the Nation has won every Sunday this season, with the exception of last week’s Meet the Press’s 70th anniversary broadcast. The broadcast included interviews with Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Treasury Sec. Steve Mnuchin.
Moderated by Chuck Todd, NBC’s Meet the Press was the top show in the demo most valued by news advertisers, A25-54. The win marks MTP’s 46th win in the demo out of the last 48 broadcasts. The program featured exclusives with Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), as well as an interview with White House legislative affairs director Marc Short.
On Monday, MTP held its first-ever Meet the Press Film Festival in Collaboration with the American Film Institute (AFI).
Moderated by George Stephanopoulos, ABC’s This Week finished No. 3 in total viewers and No. 3 in the key news demo on Nov. 12.
Hosted by Chris Wallace, Fox News Sunday delivered nearly 1.3 million total viewers on FOX. The trio of cable replays delivered 2.1 million total viewers and 455,000 demo viewers. Combined with the FOX telecast, the Nov. 12 edition of FNS delivered 3.34 million total viewers and 877,000 demo viewers.
*Note: Face the Nation’s second half-hour was broadcast contiguously across 59.8 percent of CBS affiliates.
The numbers for November 12:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CBS | Face the Nation (1/2 hr) | 3.627 M |
827 k |
| NBC | Meet the Press | 3.320 M | 926 k |
| ABC | This Week | 2.774 M | 754 k |
| FOX | Fox News Sunday | 1.257 M | 422 k |
| UNI | Al Punto | n/a | n/a |
*Al Punto ratings will be added when made available.