MEET THE PRESS Is No. 1 Sunday Morning Public Affairs Program For Week Ending 5/23

According to Nielsen Media Research data, "Meet the Press" was top-rated Sunday morning public affairs program for the week ending May 23. The NBC broadcast attracted 3.087 million total viewers, +36% more (+810,000) than second place ABC's 2.277 million total viewers, a 43% advantage (+921,000) over CBS' 2.166 million total viewers, and a +182% (1,994,000) lead over FOX's 1.093 million total viewers. "Meet the Press" has now placed first in total viewers for 443 of the past 448 weeks (when everyone is at full coverage).  The program delivered an additional 1,138,000 viewers with rebroadcasts - 450,000 viewers on the network and 688,000 viewers on MSNBC.

In Washington D.C., "Meet the Press" beat the competition with 121,000 viewers (4.7/13 HH) -- a +348% advantage over ABC's 27,000 (1.2/3 HH), a +236% lead over CBS's 36,000 (1.3/4 HH), and +236% more than FOX's 34,000 viewers (1.4/4). 

In homes nationally, the NBC broadcast topped the competition with a 2.2  rating and 7 share. CBS came in second with a 1.6/5, ABC tied for second with a 1.6/5 and FOX was last with 0.8/2.  "Meet the Press" has now placed first in households for 541 of the past 544 weeks (when everyone is at full coverage).

Among adults 25-54, the NBC Sunday morning show came in first with 1.066,000 viewers, CBS was second with 723,000 viewers, ABC placed third with 710,000 viewers and FOX came in last with a 459,000 viewers. In rating A25-54, "Meet the Press" topped both "Face The Nation" and "This Week" by +50% (+3 tenths) and FOX News Sunday by +125% (+5 tenths).

Compared to both the prior week and year ago, "Meet the Press" increased its advantages over both Face The Nation and This Week in homes, total viewers, rating M18-49, and rating M/A25-54.

Season-to-date, MTP now leads second-place Face The Nation by +18% in total viewers and +19% in A25-54 (000).

Last week's guests were Representative Joe Sestak, Senator John Cornyn, Senator Robert Menendez, New York Times Columnist Tom Friedman, the Wall Street Journal’s Paul Gigot, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell and The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward.

On its digital platforms, "Meet the Press" generated more than 219,000 online video streams from May 23 through May 27.  The "Meet the Press" video podcast (available at www.mtp.msnbc.com) remains the top ranked network Sunday Morning program podcast on iTunes.

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