“Meet the Press With Chuck Todd” has come back down to Earth in the new host’s second week, though the sophomore effort still slightly topped the news program’s quarter-to-date average.
On Sunday, NBC’s public affairs show pulled in 2.589 million total viewers, with 668,000 coming from the key 25-54 demographic. That first number represents a seven percent increase from comparable episodes in 2014’s Q3.
Todd’s debut last week drew 2.977 million total viewers, the show’s biggest audience since March.
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All that said, “Meet the Press” was bested by CBS’s “Face the Nation” and ABC’s “This Week” in total viewers, and also finished behind the “Face the Nation Hour” in demo viewers.
Still, in the first two weeks of Todd’s tenure, “MTP” is posting the largest total viewer growth versus the month of August among the public affairs shows, up 15 percent, NBC touted.
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Both Todd and NBC have preached patience for sustainable ratings growth.
“They’ve reminded me that it took Tim six years to go from third place to first place, and that it took Tom Brokaw even longer on Nightly News,” Todd told Politico earlier this month. “If I put on a good show that I’m proud of, maybe viewers will reward that.”
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And as an NBC spokesperson shared following Todd’s debut turning into a win: “We couldn’t be more proud of Chuck’s first show and are so appreciative of the viewers that turned to ‘Meet the Press’ this Sunday. At the same time, we know that one week does not equal a trend, and expanding our regular audience will take a slow build week-to-week.”