September 19, 2019 – NBC News’ TODAY, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt and Meet the Press with Chuck Todd are #1 for the 2018-2019 broadcast season, according to Nielsen Media Research. This marks the fourth straight season that all three broadcasts win in the all-important demos, A25-54 and A18-49. NBC News’ ratings success across the programs continues to be fueled by the network’s original reporting, including over 250 scoops broken by the Investigative and Political Units, as well as over 120 exclusive interviews this season.
TODAY wins the A25-54 demo, most valued by
advertisers, for the fourth straight season and tops ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS This Morning in A18-49
for the 26th season. TODAY has
won 13 weeks in total viewers this season, posting its best total viewer margin
versus GMA in
seven years and largest total viewer lead over CBS in three years. Hoda Kotb
rejoined co-anchor Savannah Guthrie this month alongside Al Roker, Craig Melvin
and Carson Daly to kick off the fall season.
NBC Nightly News with Lester
Holt is the #1 evening
newscast in the key A25-54 demo for the 12th straight season and #1 in A18-49
for the 23rd consecutive season, delivering its best streak ever in the demos
versus ABC’s World News
Tonight and CBS
Evening News. Additionally, Nightly
News posts its biggest A25-54 advantage over CBS in seven seasons
and its strongest total viewers lead over CBS in five seasons. Holt recently
got rare access inside Iran during a critical moment for the world for a
special edition of Nightly News
and, this past season, the newscast launched a criminal justice reform series,
“Justice for All,” which has evolved into a network-wide initiative led by
Holt.
Meet the Press with Chuck Todd achieves the third straight
across-the-board season win, dominating all Sunday news programs in total
viewers, A25-54 and A18-49. Among both demos, the broadcast outperforms the
competition and delivers its fourth straight season win. Meet the Press also
continues to lead in total viewers, beating ABC’s This Week for four consecutive seasons and CBS’
Face the Nation
for three straight seasons, while winning every Sunday in the influential
Washington, D.C. market for over four years. Chuck Todd has just marked five
years at the helm of Meet the
Press and next month the show will debut its third annual Meet the Press Film Festival.
During this past season, NBC News
made history producing the top-rated Democratic presidential debate in the key
A25-54 demo and in total viewers. NBC News also dominated the top political specials
of the season, delivering across-the-board wins among broadcast with the 2018
Midterm Election and coverage of the 2019 State of the Union and post-speech
analysis.The network was also #1 in the key demos across television for
coverage of then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony and Attorney
General William Barr’s press conference and was #1 in the demo across broadcast
for coverage of then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s hearing.
Source: Nielsen Media Research, Live + SD, 9/24/2018-9/15/2019 with one week remaining in the 2018-2019 season; NBC News programs versus respective competitive sets; regularly-titled telecasts only, excluding specials and repeats.
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More Americans watch NBC News than any news organization in the world. Its leading and award-winning television news broadcasts include TODAY, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Meet the Press with Chuck Todd, Dateline NBC, and TODAY with Hoda and Jenna, as well as primetime specials and breaking news reports. For the 2017-2018 season, all four NBC News marquee broadcasts were #1 in the key news demo for the third year in a row. The rapidlygrowing NBC News Digital Group, including its streaming news service NBC News NOW, along with the SiriusXM TODAY Show Radio channel, provides continuous content to consumers wherever they are, whenever they want it. NBC News also operates Peacock Productions, an award-winning in-house production company, and the NBC NewsChannel affiliate news service.
NBC News is part of the NBCUniversal News Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast Corporation. For more information about NBCUniversal, please visit www.NBCUniversal.com.
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