NBC News Facebook Debate On "MEET THE PRESS" SEen By Over 6.26 Million Viewers On Sunday, January 8, 2012

Highly Praised For Format And Content, Drives Political Conversation And Establishes New Standard For Primary Debates

"MEET THE PRESS" Broadcast Outdelivers "This Week" By Nearly 1.8 Million Viewers On Day Of Stephanopoulos' Return

The NBC News Facebook Debate on "Meet the Press" was seen by over 6.26 million viewers across all platforms on Sunday -- over 5.942 million on television and over 324,000 online.

The 90-minute Republican candidate debate, moderated by David Gregory, took place on Sunday, January 8, 2012 from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. ET in the historic Chubb Theatre at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord, New Hampshire. The debate aired live in its entirety throughout New England on NECN and nationally on MSNBC, and streamed live on Facebook.com and NBCPolitics.com as part of a unique user experience. The first 60 minutes aired nationally on the NBC network as a special edition of "Meet the Press," with the final 30 minutes offered as optional to affiliates. The third optional half-hour appeared on 160 NBC stations across the country reaching almost 84 percent of the national audience.

On air, the debate delivered:
* 4,151,000 total viewers and 1,444,000 A25-54 viewers on the NBC network broadcast
* 1,384,000 total viewers and 529,000 A25-54 viewers on MSNBC, including both the 9am ET live airing and rebroadcasts
* 390,000 total viewers and 251,000 A25-54 viewers on the network rebroadcast
* 17,200 total viewers and 13,800 A25-54 viewers on NECN's live 9am ET airing

Online, the debate also generated:
* Over 124,000 live-streams of the 9am ET event
* Over 210,000 on-demand streams of the full debate on Sunday, January 8
* Over 860,000 total online streams from January 8 - January 12, 2012.

The "Meet the Press" Facebook page was viewed over 130,000 times on Sunday. The debate generated more than 45,000 Facebook comments, and viewers asked more than 4,500 questions on the "Meet the Press" Facebook debate tab.

Below is the Neilsen Media Research data for the regular network airing of "Meet the Press" on Sunday, January 8, 2012.

The NBC program attracted 4.151 million total viewers, +50% (+1,387,000) more than second place CBS' 2.764 million viewers, a +76% advantage (+1,789,000) over third place ABC's 2.362 million viewers, and a +349% (+3,227,000) lead over FOX News Sunday's 924,000 viewers.

This represents "Meet the Press'" best total viewer delivery since January 9, 2011, biggest advantage over "Face The Nation" since March 22, 2009, and biggest lead over "This Week" since December 7, 2008. "Meet the Press" has now placed first in total viewers for 512 of the past 523 weeks (when everyone is at full coverage).

In Washington, D.C., "Meet the Press" placed first in the market with 121,000 viewers (4.4/12 HH), topping the competition with +124% more than "FOX News Sunday's" 54,000 viewers (2.2/6 HH), +157% over "This Week's" 47,000 viewers (1.8/5 HH), and +290% ahead of "Face The Nation's" 31,000 viewers (1.1/3 HH).

In homes nationally, the NBC broadcast delivered a 3.0 rating and 8 share, ahead of CBS' 2.0/5, ABC's 1.7/4, and FOX's 0.7/2. "Meet the Press" has now placed first in households for 615 of the past 619 weeks (when everyone is at full coverage).

Among adults 25-54, the NBC Sunday morning program averaged 1,444,000 viewers, outdelivering CBS by +56% (+520,000), ABC by +93% (+697,000) and FOX by +346% (+1,120,000). For the week ending January 8, 2012, in rating A25-54 "Meet the Press" outperformed "Face The Nation" by +50% (+4 tenths), "This Week" by +100% (+6 tenths), and "FOX News Sunday" by +300% (+9 tenths). This represents "Meet the Press's" biggest A25-54 (000) advantages over "Face the Nation" since December 19, 2010 and over "This Week" since December 7, 2008.

Compared to the same telecast last season, "Meet the Press" was up +22% in rating M18-49 and +17% in rating M25-54 as it widened its advantage over both CBS and ABC in homes, total viewers, rating W/M18-49, and rating W/M25-54. Versus its 4Q'11 average, "Meet the Press" posted double-digit gains across-the-board in homes (+36%), total viewers (+40%, or +1,193,000), rating W/M/A18-49 (+40%/+83%/+80%), and rating W/M/A25-54 (+43%/+75%/+71%) while increasing its advantage over each of its competitors in all ratings categories. This season, "Meet the Press" now leads "Face the Nation" by +6% (+176,000) in total viewers and "This Week" by +34% (+772,000) in total viewers.

David Gregory is the moderator of "Meet the Press." Betsy Fischer is the executive producer, Adam Verdugo is the senior producer, and Chris Donovan and Ilana Marcus Drimmer are producers.