"Meet the Press with David Gregory" was the most-watched Sunday morning public affairs program in all categories for the week ending February 28, 2010 according to Nielsen Media Research data. The NBC broadcast was No. 1, delivering 3.657 million total viewers, 23% more (+695,000) than second place CBS' "Face the Nation" 2.962 million, a +52% lead (+1,248,000) over third place ABC's "This Week" 2.409 million, and a +182% advantage (+2,360,00) over FOX News Sunday's 1.297 million viewers. "Meet the Press" has now placed first in total viewers for 432 of the past 437 weeks (when everyone is at full coverage). Note: Due to the Olympics, the network repeats of the program were pre-empted. On msnbc, an additional 612,000 viewers tuned into rebroadcasts of "Meet the Press."
In Washington, D.C., "Meet the Press" beat the competition combined with 133,000 viewers (5.3/14 HH). The NBC program had a whopping +923% advantage over ABC's 13,000 (0.4/1 HH), a +224% lead over FOX News' 41,000 viewers (1.8/5 HH), and +259% more than CBS' 37,000 (1.1/3 HH).
In homes nationally, the NBC broadcast topped the competition with a 2.7 rating and 7 share. CBS came in second with a 2.1/6, ABC in third with a 1.7/5 and FOX was last with 0.9/2. "Meet the Press" has now placed first in households for 530 of the past 533 weeks (when everyone is at full coverage).
Among adults 25-54, the NBC Sunday morning program tied with CBS for first place with a 0.8. rating, ABC was third with 0.6, and Fox was last with 0.4.
Year-to-year, "Meet the Press" is up in homes (+4%), total viewers (+4%, or +146,000), and rating M25-54 (+13%). Versus its 1Q'09 to date average, the NBC program increased in homes (+4%) and total viewers (+1%, or +19,000). "Meet the Press" was also up double-digits compared to its season-to-date averages in homes (+17%), total viewers (+12%, or +378,000), and rating M25-54 (+13%).
Season-to-date, "Meet the Press" now leads second-place "Face The Nation" by +18% in total viewers and +13% in A25-54 (000).
On its digital platforms, "Meet the Press" generated more than 194,000 online video streams from February 28 through March 4, 2010. The "Meet the Press" video podcast (available at ) remains the top ranked network Sunday Morning program podcast on iTunes.
Last week's guests were Sen. John McCain and Director of the White House Office of Health Reform, Nancy-Ann De Parle. The roundtable featured House Republican Whip Rep. Eric Cantor, National Urban League President Marc Morial, and House Democratic Deputy Whip Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz; plus two Washington journalists -- BBC World News America's Katty Kay & Atlantic Media's Ron Brownstein.
David Gregory is moderator of "Meet the Press." Betsy Fischer is the executive producer and Rebecca Samuels and Chris Donovan are the producers.