NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ wins 2016-17 Sunday morning show ratings race

NBC’s “Meet the Press ” was the most-watched Sunday morning political affairs show for the 2016–2017 season.

The 70-year-old program averaged 3.6 million viewers for the season, outpacing CBS’s “Face The Nation” by 16,000 total viewers and ABC’s “This Week” by 414,000 viewers.

Moderator Chuck Todd told The Hill that he believes one key to the show’s success has been the ability to “expand our footprint beyond Sunday mornings.”

“I’d like to think viewers believe we are producing a show that’s less stuffy, more approachable, more relevant and intelligent,” Todd said. “I also think the efforts we have made to expand our footprint beyond Sunday mornings — in the forms of a weekday MSNBC show, a podcast and a film festival this November — have helped create more urgency and relevancy to our Sunday morning edition.”

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Todd took over three years ago from David Gregory when the show was third overall in the Sunday political show ratings race. Gregory is now a political analyst on CNN.

When asked if he could remember a time when Donald Trump didn’t dominate political discussion, Todd answered, “Honestly? No,” before noting that presidents have increasingly become personality-driven in the modern era.

“What’s fascinating is that it does seem that with each successive presidency in the age of multiple cable news channels, starting in the 90s, each presidency has one-upped the last on the cult of personality front when it comes to driving the nation’s agenda both on policy and culture,” noted Todd, 45.

“Remember when it seemed Obama was so dominant in our news and culture?”

Meet the Press, the longest-running program in television history will celebrate its 70th anniversary in November with its first-ever documentary film festival in collaboration with the American Film Institute, according to the network.