This past Sunday’s (October 5) news programs received a boost thanks to the government shutdown, with NBC’s Meet the Press With Kristen Welker, in particular, scoring big in the key demographics.
According to Mediaite, citing Nielsen ratings, Meet the Press averaged 371,000 viewers in the coveted 25-54 demo and 259,000 viewers in the 18-49 demo, making it the most-watched Sunday news show on network television in both categories. In terms of total viewers, the show averaged 2.23 million.
While Meet the Press stood at the top of the demo charts, CBS’ half-hour edition of Face the Nation earned the top spot in total viewers, with 2.47 million. The show amassed 274,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo. Meanwhile, the full-hour edition of Face the Nation averaged 2.25 million viewers and 272,000 in the 25-54 demo.
Both Meet the Press and Face the Nation were up 2 per cent in total viewers compared to the Sunday prior.
Elsewhere, This Week on ABC averaged 2.07 million total viewers and 327,000 in the 25-54 demo, while Fox News Sunday on Fox averaged 941,000 total viewers and 205,000 in the 25-54 demo.
All four shows primarily focused on the government shutdown and featured interviews with top politicians from both the Democratic and Republican parties.
On Meet the Press, Welker interviewed House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Johnson and Rubio also appeared on Face the Nation, alongside Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), to discuss the shutdown.
Rubio continued his busy schedule, also appearing on ABC’s This Week, which featured an interview with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Fox News Sunday, which also included interviews with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT).
Sunday’s ratings marked the first day in Nielsen’s new methodology for estimating show numbers. The analytics company has rolled out its Big Data + Panel method, which collects data from cable, satellite set-top boxes, and Smart TVs across 45 million households and 75 million devices.