RUSSERT DOMINATES

Outside the Beltway

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RUSSERT DOMINATES

James Joyner

July 3, 2003

Comments

DRUDGEÃ‚® reports that Meet the Press is just spanking the competition:

According to Nielsen Media Research data, “Meet the Press with Tim Russert” easily dominated the Sunday morning public affairs competition in all categories for the second quarter 2003.

For the quarter, “Meet the Press” was the nation’s most-watched political discussion program, averaging 4.011 million viewers.

In second place CBS’s “Face the Nation” attracted 2.491 million viewers, and ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” followed with 2.300 million. FOX’s “News Sunday” averaged 1.580 million.

The Russert-moderated broadcast has now placed first in total viewers for 23 consecutive quarters, which represents the program’s best showing since at least 1980 (as far back as NBC News research records go).

That’s just amazing, especially since Fox has a pretty good program with an all-star discussion panel.

4 responses to “RUSSERT DOMINATES”

Dave Wissing

July 3, 2003 at 2:24 pm

I don’t know what time Fox News Sunday is on in most of the country, but where I live, Fox News Sunday is on at 9am on both the Washington and Baltimore stations and I am rarely up that early or I am at church and am unable to see it. The other three shows (ABC, CBS, NBC) are all on after 10:30am on both the Washington and Baltimore stations, much more easy to watch for me.

I usually end up watching Fox News Sunday when it is repeated on Fox News Channel on Sunday evening. I don’t know how they count people who watch the repeat, but I would guess there is a decent sized chunk of people. Mayeb this is why the ratings for Fox News Sunday are so low.
James Joyner

July 3, 2003 at 2:28 pm

A possibility, to be sure. The shows are run at wildly different times by the local affiliates. In some places, MTP and one of the others run head-to-head.
Chris Lawrence

July 3, 2003 at 2:49 pm

Yeah, I suspect clearances make a big difference in the ratings. Meet the Press probably has the best station clearance by far, and my guess is that Fox News Sunday, the relative newcomer, has the worst.

The name could also be a problem; people may just assume it’s a simulcast of FNC or something. After all, they don’t call MTP “MSNBC Sunday.”
jen

July 3, 2003 at 3:20 pm

I think that a large chunk of FNS viewers probably catch the repeat on Fox News Channel on Sunday night. I’m one of them for one of the reasons Dave gave – I’m at church when it’s on in the morning.

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