For the first time since 1999, ABC’s This Week was the top-rated Sunday morning public affairs program in Total Viewers. In the A25-54 demo, NBC won and ABC was second.
This was also the first win for George Stephanopoulos as anchor, who took over in September 2002.
The win mirrored the booking victory for ABC — President-elect Barack Obama was the guest on This Week last Sunday.
NBC’s Meet the Press had previously spent 14 weeks on top after getting edged by CBS’ Face the Nation on September 28.
In the A25-54 demo, NBC was first with a 1.49, followed by ABC with 1.40, CBS with 1.03 and FOX with .63. In the Washington, D.C. market, NBC was #1 followed by FOX, ABC and CBS.
ABC’s This Week averaged 4,340,000 Total Viewers for first place. NBC’s Meet the Press had 4,300,00, CBS’ Face the Nation had 3,010,000 and FOX News Sunday averaged 1,820,000. ABC and FOX grew in Total Viewers week-to-week.
> Update: MTP placed first in households (3.1/8) for the 118th consecutive week. This Week (3.0/8) was a close 2nd.