CBS News’ Face the Nation snapped a 12-week losing streak on April 26th, topping ABC News’ This Week with George Stephanopoulos in total viewers for the first time since January.
Averaging the two Face the Nation airings (the half-hour and full-hour editions), CBS drew approximately 2.9 million total viewers on April 26th. That edged out This Week, which pulled 2.8 million viewers on the day. The gap was slim, but the result still marked a meaningful reversal after more than two months of This Week holding the top spot.
NBC’s Meet the Press came in third in total viewers with 2.5 million, while Fox News Sunday trailed the field at 1.1 million.
The turnaround is especially striking given where things stood just a week earlier. On April 19th, This Week averaged 2.7 million total viewers — its 12th consecutive week at the top of the Sunday show rankings. Face the Nation had drawn 2.5 million that day, with Meet the Press at 2.3 million and Fox News Sunday pulling in 944,000.
In other words, all four programs saw week-over-week growth by April 26th. Face the Nation‘s combined average jumped roughly 376,000 viewers from the prior week. This Week added about 100,000. Meet the Press gained more than 200,000. Fox News Sunday saw a sizable bump, climbing from 944,000 to 1,126,000 — an increase of nearly 200,000 viewers.
The Adults 25-54 demographic told a different story. Meet the Press, anchored by Kristen Welker, led that category on April 26th with 484,000 viewers — a strong result that reinforced NBC’s consistent strength with the younger news audience. This Week followed with 419,000 in the demo, edging out Face the Nation‘s combined average of approximately 364,000. Fox News Sunday drew 208,000 in the category.
For context, Meet the Press had also topped the demo the week prior with 434,000 viewers. This Week drew 349,000 that day, while Face the Nation came in at 329,000 and Fox News Sunday at 152,000.
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