“Fox News Sunday” is gaining ratings momentum in Washington D.C., beating its major-network competition in all categories for the first time in seven years.
Nielsen estimates that Sunday’s telecast of “Fox News Sunday” averaged 107,000 viewers in the D.C. market on WTTG-5 — the second largest audience ever in the nation’s capital, behind only the 132,000 in February 2010 when Chris Wallace interviewed Sarah Palin.
It finished well ahead of NBC’s “Meet the Press” on WRC-4 (73,000), ABC’s “This Week” on WJLA-7 (65,000), CBS’ “Face the Nation” on WUSA-9 (59,000) and Univision’s “Al Punto” on WFDC-14 (57,000). “Fox News Sunday” also led in households (64,000 to 53,000 for “Meet the Press”).
And in the key news demo of adults 25-54, “Fox News Sunday” led in D.C. with 41,000, followed by “This Week” (36,000), “Meet the Press” (33,000), “Al Punto” (32,000) and “Face the Nation” (29,000).
The Wallace-moderated “Fox News Sunday,” which began in 1996, had only finished on top on one other occasion prior to 2014 — in 2007 when it had an interview with President Bush.
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It broke through in April of this year to beat “Meet the Press” in D.C. in adults 25-54 for the first time in seven years; it then finished on top in total viewers for the first time in May, and in June it won in households. Last Sunday marked the first sweep in the market for “Fox News Sunday.”
Washington, D.C. is only a small portion of the country, but it’s an important one when it comes to reaching lawmakers and others who set the country’s political agenda.
Guests on Sunday’s installment of “Fox News Sunday” included Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was also a guest on “Meet the Press.”
