MEET THE PRESS Sees Ratings Win For Week Ending 5/2

According to Nielsen Media Research data, "Meet the Press" was top-rated Sunday morning public affairs program for the week ending May 2. For the debut of its new HD set, "Meet the Press" attracted 3.266 million total viewers, +12% more (+341,000) than second place CBS' 2.925 million total viewers, a 29% advantage (+738,000) over ABC's 2.528 million total viewers, and a +210% (2,213,000) lead over FOX's 1.053 million total viewers. "Meet the Press" delivered an additional 1,105,000 viewers with rebroadcasts -- 440,000 viewers on the network and 665,000 viewers on MSNBC.

In Washington D.C., the NBC broadcast beat the competition combined with 74,000 viewers (2.9/10 HH), a +164% advantage over ABC's 28,000 (1.1/3 HH), a +311% lead over CBS's 18,000 (0.8/3 HH), and +185% more than FOX's 26,000 viewers (0.8/3). 

In homes nationally, the NBC broadcast topped the competition with a 2.4 rating and 7 share. CBS came in second with a 2.1/6, ABC in third with a 1.8/5 and FOX was last with 0.7/2.  "Meet the Press" has now placed first in households for 538 of the past 541 weeks (when everyone is at full coverage).

Among adults 25-54, the NBC Sunday morning show came in first with a 0.9 rating, ABC and CBS tied for second with 0.7 and FOX came in last with a 0.3. In rating A25-54, "Meet the Press" topped both "Face The Nation" and "This Week" by +29% (+2 tenths) and FOX News Sunday by +200% (+6 tenths).

Week-to-week, "Meet the Press" increased its deliveries in homes (+4%), total viewers (+3%, +85,000), rating W/A18-49 (+75%/+20%), and rating W/M/A25-54 (+50%/+13%/+29%). Versus the same telecast last season, the program posted increases in homes (+4%), total viewers (+1%, or +36,000), and rating W18-49 (+17%). Compared to its 2Q’10 to date average, NBC was up in homes (+9%), total viewers (+7%, or +213,000), rating W/A18-49 (+75%/+20%), and rating W/A25-54 (+50%/+29%).  Season-to-date, the broadcast also grew in homes (+4%), rating W18-49 (+17%), and rating W/M/A25-54 (+13%/+13%/+13%).

Season-to-date, "Meet the Press" leads second-place "Face The Nation" by +18% in total viewers and +17% in A25-54 (000).

Last week's guests were Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, Admiral Thad Allen. The roundtable featured Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN); Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D-MI); Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN); and Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM).

On its digital platforms, "Meet the Press" generated more than 223,000 online video streams from May 2 through May 6.  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.

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