NEW YORK (AP) – Opinion polls are one thing, but Nielsen numbers speak more loudly to television executives: Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump’s ability to pull in viewers makes him catnip for news programs and wins a level of coverage that feeds on itself.
NBC’s “Meet the Press” had its biggest audience in more than a year for its Trump interview on Aug. 16, leading that show’s biggest competitors – ABC’s “This Week” and CBS’ “Face the Nation” – to feature phone interviews with the New York businessman this past Sunday.
After CNN turned Jake Tapper’s interview with Trump into a prime-time special last week and earned its best ratings at that hour in a month, the network repeated it two nights later. Two Trump interviews on Sean Hannity’s Fox News Channel show this month both brought in around 2.2 million viewers, well above his typical audience.
Trump is generally considered the biggest reason why Fox reached a startling 24 million people for the first GOP presidential debate earlier this month – the most watched program in Fox News history. That instantly made him a big “get” for TV producers, and the media savvy ex-reality show host has eagerly played along.
Keenly aware of his drawing power, Trump suggested in a Time magazine interview that he could ask CNN to pay $10 million to charity for his participation in the next GOP debate.