‘Meet the Press’ dominates Sunday show ratings race with Michael Wolff interview

NBC’s “Meet the Press with Chuck Todd” dominated the Sunday morning political program race for a fourth consecutive week after its interview with bestselling “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” author Michael Wolff. 

 

“Meet the Press” topped its competition by double digits on Jan. 7 with 4.276 million viewers — 834,000 more viewers than ABC’s “This Week” and 593,000 more than CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Wolff made headlines again during the interview with Todd by stating that “the 25th Amendment is a concept that is alive every day in the White House.” 

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The author’s credibility has been called into question by Trump administration officials and some journalists in recent days. 

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has referred to the book as “trashy tabloid fiction” while Wolff himself writes in the book’s introduction that many of the accounts provided “are in conflict with one another” and may be “badly untrue.” He says he “settled on a version of events” he believed to be true. 

Still, the book continues to sell at a record pace, with publisher Henry Holt announcing it has ordered an additional 1 million hardcover copies. It is already the fastest-selling nonfiction book in Henry Holt history, which was founded in 1866. 

 

The interest in Wolff and “Fire and Fury” translated into soaring ratings for “Meet the Press” as well. 

 

According to NBC, the program “had its best total viewership in the influential Washington, D.C., market since November 2008,” according to a network release. 

 

“Season-to-date, MTP continues as the #1 most-watched Sunday show in the key demo, beating competition by double-digits: ABC by +14 percent (+117,000) and CBS by +21 percent (+168,000),” the release adds. 

 

Todd, 45, took over for David Gregory due to relatively low ratings in 2014. Gregory has since joined CNN as a political commentator.