Delivers Biggest February Sweep Audiences Across the Board Since 2008
Marks First February Sweep Across-the-Board Win in Three Years
Only Sunday Show to Grow in Any Demographic Year-Over-Year
#1 Across-the-Board Win for the Second Straight Month
FEB. 28, 2017 – “Meet the Press with Chuck Todd” (MTP) won the 2017 February Sweep, finishing #1 across the board in every key demographic.
This is the first February Sweep across-the-board win for the network broadcast in three years (since February 2014). MTP also delivered its biggest February Sweep audiences in nine years (since February 2008).
For the February Sweep period, an average of 4.048 million total viewers tuned into MTP, beating CBS’ “Face the Nation” by nine percent (+326,000) and ABC’s “This Week” by +22 percent (+721,000). In the key demo, an average of 1.230 million A25-54 viewers tuned into MTP: +41 percent (+360,000) more than CBS and +36 percent (+326,000) more than ABC.
Viewers continue to turn to MTP for news on Sunday. Compared to the 2016 February Sweep, MTP was the only Sunday show to grow in any demographic with gains of five percent in total viewers and eight percent in the key demo. Both CBS and ABC were down across the board year-over-year. MTP continued to be the sole Sunday show to grow in any demographic when compared to the last sweep period (November 2016): seven percent in total audience and four percent in the key demo.
February marks the 13th consecutive month that MTP has finished #1 in the demo most coveted by news advertisers. This month, MTP had its biggest advantage over ABC (+36 percent) in the key demo in four years (since January 2013) and its biggest total viewer win over CBS (nine percent) in five years (since January 2012).
This past Sunday, Feb. 26, MTP featured exclusive interviews with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) as well as an interview with Tom Perez, the new chair of the Democratic National Party.
MTP finished #1 in the key A25-54 demo on Sunday, delivering 1.128 million viewers: +39 percent (+314,000) more than CBS and +19 percent (+180,000) more than ABC. Delivering 3.646 million total viewers, MTP beat ABC by ten percent (+330,000) on Sunday. Just one percent of viewers (-48,000) separated MTP from CBS, which continues to rate for only 30 minutes of its hour-long program.
MTP continues to dominate the influential Washington, D.C. market, outperforming the competition in both total viewers and the key demo this past Sunday. MTP has been the most-watched Sunday show in this market of newsmakers every Sunday since March 22, 2015.
An additional 1.499 million total viewers and 402,000 key demo viewers watched MTP this past Sunday through rebroadcasts on MSNBC.
Tune in tonight beginning at 9 p.m. ET as moderator Chuck Todd joins “NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt, “TODAY” co-host Savannah Guthrie and NBC News special correspondent Tom Brokaw for special coverage of President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress.
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FEBRUARY 2017 SWEEPS
| Show Name | Net | Total Viewers | A25-54 Viewers |
| MEET THE PRESS | NBC | 4048 | 1230 |
| THIS WEEK | ABC | 3327 | 904 |
| FACE THE NATION HALF-HOUR | CBS | 3722 | 870 |
| FOX NEWS SUNDAY | FOX | 1669 | 502 |
NATIONAL AVERAGES – SUNDAY, FEB. 26, 2017
| Show Name | Net | Duration (minutes) | Total Viewers | A25-54 Viewers |
| MEET THE PRESS | NBC | 48 | 3646 | 1128 |
| FACE THE NATION HALF-HOUR | CBS | 30 | 3694 | 813 |
| FACE THE NATION HOUR | CBS | 60 | 3165 | 698 |
| THIS WEEK | ABC | 46 | 3316 | 948 |
| FOX NEWS SUNDAY | FOX | 60 | 1560 | 461 |
WASHINGTON, D.C. AVERAGES – SUNDAY, FEB. 26, 2017
| Households | Total Viewers | Adults 25-54 | |||||
| Stn | Program | Rtg | Shr | TV(000) | MTP ADV | TV(000) | MTP ADV |
| WRC | MEET THE PRESS | 3.94 | 10 | 113 | — | 46 | — |
| WUSA | FACE THE NATION HOUR | 2.11 | 6 | 74 | 53% | 25 | 84% |
| WJLA | THIS WEEK ABC | 1.58 | 4 | 70 | 61% | 22 | 109% |
| WTTG | FOX NEWS SUNDAY | 2.92 | 8 | 85 | 33% | 31 | 48% |
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