medialifemagazine.com
NBC's Sunday chat lead is narrowing
By Kevin Downey
Jul 2, 2009 - 4:45:43 AM
The broadcast networks’ Sunday morning news shows are separated by one of the smallest audience gaps in recent memory, with NBC's “Meet the Press” seeing its longtime lead shrinking.
At least part of that comes from disruptions in NBC's Sunday morning schedule. Earlier this month the show was bumped for the French Open, and two Sundays ago, NBC aired U.S. Open golf coverage.
For that Sunday, June 21, “Meet the Press” ranked No. 1, but just barely.
“Press” had an audience of 2.56 million viewers, compared to 2.51 million viewers for CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” which has traded second place with "Nation" much of the year, had an audience of 2.32 million people. "Fox News Sunday” trailed far behind with 920,000 viewers.
In the 25-54 news demographic, CBS’s “Face the Nation” was No. 1 with 900,000 viewers. “Meet the Press” was No. 2 with 810,000 viewers 25-54. “This Week” had an audience of 690,000. Fox had 370,000 viewers.
For the week between the French Open and the U.S. Open, “Meet the Press” was seen by 3.1 million viewers. “Face the Nation” had an audience of 2.6 million and “This Week” was seen by 2.3 million people.
Still, NBC has been losing a bit of its edge since host David Gregory took over for the late Tim Russert in December.
For the May sweeps, "Press" averaged 3.18 million viewers, compared to 2.72 million for "Week" and 2.55 million for "Nation."
By comparison, during the May 2008 sweeps, Russert averaged 4.13 million viewers, 1.5 million more than "Week" and 1.68 million more than "Nation."
These numbers largely held when Tom Brokaw stepped in after Russert's death last June.
But then again the biggest determiner of audience size is what's in the news, and when news is light, viewership typically drops for all news shows. Last year the presidential election kept viewers engaged.
***
Meanwhile, in daypart ratings for the week ended June 21, CBS’s “The Late Show with David Letterman” led with 3.5 million total viewers, followed by NBC’s “Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” with 3.5 million and ABC’s “Nightline” with 3.0 million. In late late night, NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” drew 1.6 million viewers, with CBS’s “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” at 1.5 million, ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” bringing in 1.3 million and NBC’s “Last Call with Carson Daly” 900,000. Among 18-49s, “Tonight Show” averaged a 1.3 rating, followed by “Late Show” at 0.8 and “Nightline” at 0.7. In late late night, “Late Night” averaged a 0.7 rating, with “Kimmel,” “Late Late Show” and “Last Call” all at 0.4 (with a Monday rerun for “Last Call” and Monday and Wednesday encores for “Kimmel”).
In daytime, CBS was first with 3.23 million total viewers, ABC second with 2.72 million and NBC third with 2.59 million. Among women 18-49, NBC and ABC tied for first, each with a 1.1 rating, followed by CBS at 0.9.
In evening network news for the week ended June 28, NBC’s “Nightly News with Brian Williams” was first with 8.38 million total viewers and a 2.1 rating among adults 25-54, well up from the previous week thanks in part to news of Michael Jackson’s and Farrah Fawcett’s death. ABC’s “World News with Charles Gibson” averaged 6.99 million viewers and a 1.6 rating, followed by CBS’s “Evening News with Katie Couric” with 5.57 million and a 1.3 rating.
Note: The most recent morning show ratings were unavailable at press time. They will be updated when they are released.
|
SUNDAY MORNING SHOW RATINGS*
Week ending June 21, 2009
Sunday averages |
|
Program |
Network |
Households |
|
|
Rtg% |
Shr |
Adults 25-54 |
Total viewers (millions) |
|
Meet the Press** |
NBC |
N/A |
N/A |
0.7 |
2.560 |
|
Face the Nation |
CBS |
N/A |
N/A |
0.7 |
2.510 |
|
This Week With George Stephanopoulos |
ABC |
N/A |
N/A |
0.6 |
2.320 |
|
News Sunday |
Fox |
N/A |
N/A |
0.3 |
0.920 |
|
* Household ratings not
available at press time
** "Meet the Press" didn’t air in its normal time in all markets due to U.S. Open golf coverage.
Source: NTI |
|
LATE-NIGHT RATINGS
Week Ending June 21, 2009
Five-day averages |
|
Program |
Network |
People 2+ |
Adults 18-49 |
|
Total viewers (millions) |
Rtg% |
|
Late Show with David Letterman |
CBS |
3.5 |
0.8 |
|
Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien |
NBC |
3.3 |
1.3 |
|
Nightline |
ABC |
3.0 |
0.7 |
|
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon |
NBC |
1.6 |
0.7 |
|
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson |
CBS |
1.5 |
0.4 |
|
Jimmy Kimmel Live* |
ABC |
1.3 |
0.4 |
|
Last Call with
Carson Daly* |
NBC |
0.9 |
0.4 |
|
* Monday's "Last Call" and the Monday and Wednesday "Kimmel" telecasts were encores.
Source: NTI |
|
MORNING SHOW RATINGS
Week Ending June 14, 2009
Five-day averages |
|
Program |
Network |
Households |
People 2+ |
|
Rtg% |
Shr |
Total viewers (millions) |
|
Today |
NBC |
4.0 |
15 |
5.299 |
|
Good Morning
America |
ABC |
3.1 |
11 |
4.106 |
|
Early Show |
CBS |
1.9 |
7 |
2.457 |
|
Source: NTI |
|
DAYTIME RATINGS
Week Ending June 21, 2009
Five-day averages |
|
|
Total viewers (millions) |
Women 18-49 |
|
Network |
(millions) |
Rtg% |
|
CBS |
3.23 |
0.9 |
|
ABC |
2.72 |
1.1 |
|
NBC |
2.59 |
1.1 |
|
Source: NTI
|
|
EVENING NETWORK NEWS RATINGS
Week Ending June 28, 2009
Five-day averages |
|
Program |
Network |
25-54s |
People 2+ |
|
Rtg% |
Total viewers (millions) |
|
NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams |
NBC |
2.1 |
8.379 |
|
ABC World News with Charles Gibson |
ABC |
1.6 |
6.994 |
|
CBS Evening News with Katie Couric |
CBS |
1.3 |
5.566 |
|
Source: Nielsen Media Research |
|
SYNDICATION
Ranked on Households
Week Ending June 21, 2009 |
|
# |
PROGRAMS |
Syndicator |
Households |
|
US
Rtg% |
(000) |
|
1
|
WHEEL OF FORTUNE
|
CTD
|
5.6
|
6385
|
|
2
|
JEOPARDY
|
CTD
|
4.8
|
5512
|
|
3
|
OPRAH WINFREY SHOW
|
CTD
|
3.9
|
4423
|
|
4
|
JUDGE JUDY (AT)
|
CTD
|
3.8
|
4322
|
|
4
|
TWO-HALF MEN-SYN (AT)
|
WB
|
3.8
|
4405
|
|
6
|
ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT(AT)
|
CTD
|
3.5
|
4029
|
|
7
|
FAMILY GUY-MF-SYN (AT)
|
2/T
|
3.4
|
3946
|
|
8
|
CSI NEW YORK-SYN(AT)
|
CTD
|
3.0
|
3426
|
|
8
|
GEORGE LOPEZ (AT)
|
WB
|
3.0
|
3429
|
|
10
|
LAW & ORDER:SVU-SYN (AT)
|
NBU
|
2.8
|
3204
|
|
10
|
SEINFELD (AT)
|
SPT
|
2.8
|
3260
|
|
12
|
DR. PHIL SHOW (AT)
|
CTD
|
2.7
|
3073
|
|
13
|
EVRY LVS RAYMOND-SYN(AT)
|
CTD
|
2.5
|
2912
|
|
13
|
INSIDE EDITION (AT)
|
CTD
|
2.5
|
2861
|
|
13
|
KING OF THE HILL-SYN(AT)
|
2/T
|
2.5
|
2884
|
|
16
|
LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY
|
DAD
|
2.3
|
2602
|
|
16
|
GEORGE LOPEZ WKND B (AT)
|
WB
|
2.3
|
2628
|
|
16
|
BUENA VISTA
VI
|
DAD
|
2.3
|
2617
|
|
19
|
MILLIONAIRE (AT)
|
DAD
|
2.2
|
2520
|
|
19
|
SEINFELD-WKND (AT)
|
SPT
|
2.2
|
2575
|
|
21
|
TWO-HALF MEN WKND B (AT)
|
WB
|
2.1
|
2424
|
|
21
|
KING OF QUEENS-SYN (AT)
|
SPT
|
2.1
|
2395
|
|
21
|
CSI MIAMI-SYN (AT)
|
CTD
|
2.1
|
2349
|
|
24
|
FRIENDS (AT)
|
WB
|
2.0
|
2342
|
|
24
|
JUDGE JOE BROWN (AT)
|
CTD
|
2.0
|
2244
|
|
24
|
HOUSE OF PAYNE MF-SYN(AT)
|
2/T
|
2.0
|
2244
|
|
24
|
GEORGE LOPEZ WKND A (AT)
|
WB
|
2.0
|
2247
|
|
Source: Nielsen Media Research |
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