Kristen Welker’s interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy boosted “Meet the Press” to a Sunday ratings win, TheWrap can exclusively reveal.
The Feb. 16 installment of “Meet the Press With Kristen Welker” ranked as the No. 1 most-watched public affairs show of the day with an average 480,000 viewers in the demo among adults 25-54, according to Nielsen. Demo viewership for “Meet the Press” on Sunday outpaced ABC’s “This Week” by 15%, CBS’ “Face the Nation” by 10% and Fox’s “Fox News Sunday” by 59%.
Of the Sunday shows, “Meet the Press” was the only program to see ratings growth when compared to the prior year, with viewership growing by 25%.
“Meet the Press” currently stands as the No. 1 most-watched public affairs show among viewers 25-54 with an average 477,000 demo viewers, ahead of ABC, which averages 416,000 demo viewers, as well as CBS, which averages 461,000 demo viewers.
Demo viewership for “Meet the Press” is up 5% when compared to last year’s average at the same point in the season, while demo viewership is down 2% for ABC and down 5% for CBS.
When it comes to total viewers, “Meet the Press” averaged 2.64 million total viewers this past Sunday, ahead of the 1.3 million viewers brought in by “Fox News Sunday.” Still, the total viewership for “Meet the Press” was behind the 2.65 million viewers averaged by the hour broadcast of “Face the Nation” and the 2.65 million viewers brought in by ABC’s “This Week.”
“Meet the Press” also leads digital viewership among Sunday public affairs programs, and NBC News recently scored a record number of TikTok views — over a billion on its flagship account — in January.
During the Sunday interview, Zelenskyy told Welker that he believes Ukraine has a “low chance to survive without support of the United States,” and said he counts on Donald Trump’s “good faith” negotiation.
Zelenskyy is among the high-profile interviews conducted by Welker as of late, with Trump joining “Meet the Press” shortly after his 2024 election win.
