Drudge: "This Week" beating Russert and Shieffer

DRUDGE REPORT FLASH: I don't usually cite Drudge, but I like George and know his mother. Go George!: "According to Nielsen Media Research for Sunday May 28, 2006, ABC News “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” was #1 for the second consecutive week in Adults 25-54, again outperforming both NBC’s “Meet the Press” and CBS’s “Face the Nation,” and despite being rescheduled in 17 markets due to ABC’s Indy 500 programming. Last Sunday was also the first time in ten years that “This Week” has outperformed the competition -with full coverage - and placed #1 in the demo two weeks in a row.

Compared to the same week a year ago, “This Week” grew 16% with 950,000 (.8 rtg.) Adult 25-54 viewers, bringing the program to its largest lead over “Face” since March 2003 and over “Meet” (with full coverage) since August 1999. CBS, in comparison, dropped 16% with 760,000 (.6 rtg.) Adults 25-54, while NBC declined 20% to 830,000 (.7 rtg.). Fourth place Fox News Sunday posted 550,000 (.4 rtg.) Adults 25-54.

In Total Viewers, “This Week” posted 2.43 million for second place – a growth of 12% since last year - outperforming “Face the Nation’s” 2.39 million (-9% compared to the same week last year) for the second consecutive week. This was “This Week’s” widest lead over “Face” (40,000) since last July. NBC’s “Meet the Press” posted 3.02 million viewers, a growth of 19% compared to the same week last year, and Fox News Sunday declined 14% with 1.13 million Total Viewers. "