Obama Interview Helps <i>This Week</i> Beat <i>Meet The Press</i>

Last week was a good week for This Week, which ended up eking out a win over NBC rival Meet The Press in Total Viewers, and landing as the "top-rated Sunday morning public affairs program in Total Viewers" for the first time since the turn of the century. TVNewser has the numbers:

ABC's This Week averaged 4,340,000 Total Viewers for first place. NBC's Meet the Press had 4,300,00, CBS' Face the Nation had 3,010,000 and FOX News Sunday averaged 1,820,000. ABC and FOX grew in Total Viewers week-to-week.

ABC News, in a press release, adds:

While "This Week" outperformed "Meet" by 40,000 viewers, its total viewing lead over CBS' "Face the Nation" (1.33 million) was the largest since June 27, 1999 as well.

Compared to the same week one year ago, "This Week" grew 57% among Total Viewers and 30% in Adults 25-54. "Meet the Press" in comparison declined 9% in Total Viewers and 17% in the demo, while "Face" grew 8% in viewers and dropped 6% in Adults 25-54.

Season-to-date "This Week" remains in 2nd place with 3.41 million viewers, a growth of 27% compared to the same time frame last year.

Of course, it's worth pointing out that ABC News' success is, in all likelihood, due to the fact that President-elect Barack Obama was the guest, making this a high-tech example of the power of the "Franklin mint model" of journalism. For more on how you, too, can leverage Barack Obama's visage for sure-fire income in this recession economy, here's Stephen Colbert and P.K. Winsome.