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Meet the Press tops the ratings again

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According to Nielsen Media Research data, "Meet the Press" was the most-watched Sunday morning public affairs program, winning the week ending Sunday, Jan. 4, 2009 in all categories. The Gregory-moderated program was No. 1, averaging 4.715 million total viewers, +30 percent more (+1,082,000) than second place CBS' "Face the Nation" 3.633 million, a +45 percent advantage (+1,460,000) over third place ABC's "This Week" 3.255 million and a +211 percent lead (+3,201,000) over FOX News Sunday's 1.514 million. "Meet the Press" has now placed first in total viewers for 380 of the past 382 weeks (when everyone is at full coverage).

In Washington, D.C., "Meet the Press" beat the competition with 158,000 viewers (5.1/12 HH), a +159 percent advantage over CBS' 61,000 (2.0/5), a +295 percent lead over FOX's 40,000 (1.3/3), and +427% more than ABC's 30,000 viewers (1.0/3).

In homes nationally, the NBC program was No. 1, posting a 3.4 rating and 9 share. CBS came in second with a 2.5 rating and 7 share, ABC in third with a 2.3 rating and 6 share and FOX placed last with a 1.1 rating and 3 share. "Meet the Press" has now placed first in households for 117 straight weeks and 477 of the past 478 weeks (when everyone is at full coverage).

Among adults 25-54, the NBC Sunday morning show again placed first with a 1.3 rating. CBS came in second with 1.1, ABC placed third with a 0.8 and FOX came in last with a 0.5. In rating A25-54, "Meet the Press" topped CBS by +18% (+2 tenths), ABC by +63% (+5 tenths) and FOX by +160% (+8 tenths).

Among the Sunday competition, "Meet the Press" has shown the biggest growth versus last season in homes, total viewers, rating adult 18-49, and rating women/adult 25-54, widening its advantage over the competition in each category. The program is up across the board week-to-week and up in total viewers and homes compared to its 4Q'08/season-to-date averages.

Last week's guests were NBC's Richard Engel and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). The roundtable featured The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, BBC World News America's Katty Kay, Al-Arabiya's Hisham Melhem, and NBC's Andrea Mitchell, and The New York Times' David Sanger.

On its digital platforms, "Meet the Press" generated more than 245,000 online video streams from January 4 through January 8, 2009. Traffic to mtp.msnbc.com was at more than 570,000 page views for that same time period. The "Meet the Press" video podcast (available at mtp.msnbc.com) remains the top ranked network Sunday Morning program podcast on iTunes for one year running.

David Gregory moderator of "Meet the Press." Betsy Fischer is the executive producer and Michelle Jaconi and Rebecca Samuels are the producers.