2019 Erdos & Morgan

Opinion Leaders Study

The 2019 Erdos & Morgan national study of opinion leaders verified that PBS and Public Affairs programming continues to be a trusted source for news and information that opinion leaders turn to on a regular basis. The PBS and public television programs included in the study were Frontline, NOVA, PBS , Nature and .

OVERALL EXCELLENCE: • As a network viewed in the previous 7 days by opinion leaders, PBS ranked fourth overall. • PBS had the top three most “credible” programs as agreed by opinion leaders. PBS NewsHour was #1 among all series with a 64.2% of viewers agreeing • Four of the top 5 most “objective” television sources that reach most opinion leaders were PBS programs. • PBS NewsHour was on top in most “objective” programs with a 65.1 rating.

TOP 10 TELEVISION NETWORKS FOR OPINION LEADERS OVER THE LAST SEVEN DAYS PBS was fourth among the top 10 TV networks watched by opinion leaders in the last week.

Rank Network Viewed in last 7 days 1. CBS 64.1% 2. NBC 60.3 3. ABC 58.2 4. PBS 55.1 5. CNN 49.4 6. MSNBC 40.4 7. FOX 37.5 8. ESPN 35.0 9. Channel 29.6 10. BBC World News 30.7 *Total viewership is the net of occasional and regular viewing to a TV network business/sports/news programs.

TOP 10 TELEVISION MEDIA FOR OPINION LEADERS BASED ON COVERAGE PBS NewsHour and NOVA were among the top 10 TV programs watched by opinion leaders.

View View Total Rank Program Regularly Occasionally Viewership 1 60 Minutes (CBS) 16.2% 23.8% 40.0% 2 Anderson Cooper 360° (CNN) 8.1 20.2 28.3 3 BBC World News (BBC) 6.7 18.7 25.4 4 PBS Newshour (PBS) 9.4 15.5 24.9 5 Nightly News with Lester Holt (NBC) 11.4 12.3 23.8 6 (NBC) 8.6 14.4 23 7 The Show (MSNBC) 9.1 13.2 22.3 8 NOVA (PBS) 6.6 14.2 20.8 9 Today Show (NBC) 6.3 11.5 17.8 10 Face (CBS) 5.6 12.1 17.7

TOP 10 TV MEDIA FOR OPINION LEADERS BASED ON “CREDIBILITY” AND “OBJECTIVITY”: Opinion leaders have, once again, shown their confidence in PBS’s credibility. PBS aired the top 3 most “credible” television sources watched by opinion leaders.

Note that % indicates the percentage of viewers of the program that agree.

Top 10 Credible Television Programs:

Rank Program % Rank Program % 1 PBS Newshour (PBS) 64.2% 6 11th Hour with (MSNBC) 57.4% 2 Frontline (PBS) 63.2 7 All In with (MSNBC) 56.8 3 NOVA (PBS) 61.7 8 Anderson Cooper 360° (CNN) 55.6 4 BBC World News (BBC) 60.2 9 BBC World News America with (BBC) 54.9 5 (MSNBC) 58.9 10 Nightly News with Lester Holt (NBC) 54.7

PBS’s programs are viewed by opinion leaders as unbiased and not influenced by personal opinions. Four of the top 5 “objective” television sources that reach opinion leaders were PBS programs.

Top 10 Objective Television Programs:

Rank Program % Rank Program % 1 PBS Newshour (PBS) 65.1% 6 GPS (CNN) 54.0% 2 NOVA (PBS) 57.5 7 BBC World News America with Katty Kay (BBC) 52.2 3 BBC World News (BBC) 57.4 8 Varney & Company (FBN) 49.4 4 Washington Week (PBS) 56.2 9 Meet The Press (NBC) 47.0 5 Frontline (PBS) 55.0 10 Nightly News with Lester Holt (NBC) 46.6

PERCENT (%) OF TOTAL VIEWERS WHO FIND PROGRAMS TO BE: PBS NewsHour was rated most “Credible” and “Objective” among weekday (and all) series for opinion leaders.

Weekday News Program Objective Current Influential Credible Enjoyable PBS Newshour (PBS) 65.1% 73.2% 53.2% 64.2% 41.1% BBC World News (BBC) 57.4 70.7 45.3 60.2 34.5 The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC) 38.3 68.5 57.0 58.9 56.2 11th Hour with Brian Williams (MSNBC) 41.4 68.9 35.5 57.4 42.8 (MSNBC) 34.2 67.1 38.0 56.8 42.1 Anderson Cooper 360° (CNN) 41.0 66.5 46.0 55.6 40.8 BBC World News America with Katty Kay (BBC) 52.2 56.9 41.0 54.9 41.6 Nightly News with Lester Holt (NBC) 46.6 74.3 45.6 54.7 40.2 The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell (MSNBC) 35.9 71.9 41.8 53.9 50.6 Special Report with Bret Baier (FNC) 46.0 67.1 39.7 53.2 33.3

NOVA and Frontline were the rated the most “Objective” and “Credible among weekly series for opinion leaders. Washington Week was rated the second most “Objective” among weekly series for opinion leaders. All of PBS’s measured programs ranked in the top 10 for every single category.

Weekly Programs Objective Current Influential Credible Enjoyable Frontline (PBS) 55.0% 62.2% 48.7% 63.2% 43.7% NOVA (PBS) 57.5 57.0 41.0 61.7 64.3 Fareed Zakaria GPS (CNN) 54.0 69.9 52.2 54.5 44.9 Washington Week (PBS) 56.2 69.5 44.6 54.2 41.6 60 Minutes (CBS) 44.1 55.7 50.1 53.9 58.4 Meet The Press (NBC) 47.0 64.6 50.3 50.3 35.6 This Week with George Stephanopoulos (ABC) 40.3 64.8 41.3 49.5 36.1 (CBS) 44.5 65.5 46.5 49.3 32.7 Sunday Morning (CBS) 42.9 55.4 35.6 48.8 65.9 with (Fox) 44.2 61.6 38.1 46.6 33.7 *Opinion Leaders who view each program occasionally or regularly.

PERCENT (%) OF VIEWERS BY AREAS OF EXPERTISE: PBS NewsHour reaches nearly 25% of opinion leaders in the federal government. Over a quarter of opinion leaders from communications and media, healthcare, and science sectors watch PBS NewsHour.

Government Private Sector

State, Any Comm. & Totals Local Assoc. Business Education Healthcare Law Science Govt Media Govt

60 Minutes (CBS) 40.0% 38.6% 36.6% 33.6% 47.8% 39.2% 37.8% 38.4% 38.2% 42.0% Anderson Cooper 28.3 35.7 18.3 36.7 29.0 32.7 22.7 23.2 30.2 22.9 360° (CNN) BBC World News 25.4 31.7 16.3 23.4 24.5 27.7 24.3 18.7 21.2 29.8 (BBC) PBS Newshour 24.9 27.4 16.2 19.5 20.4 36.0 20.4 25.6 18.9 37.2 (PBS) Nightly News with 23.8 31.7 20.2 21.9 26.5 22.7 17.1 24.6 20.3 20.2 Lester Holt (NBC) Meet The Press 23.0 29.2 23.4 25.0 24.1 24.8 22.1 22.2 17.9 15.4 (NBC) The Rachel Maddow 22.3 25.6 16.7 25.0 21.6 25.9 18.2 20.7 24.1 21.8 Show (MSNBC) NOVA (PBS) 20.8 24.2 10.7 14.8 16.7 24.8 18.2 22.2 15.1 30.9 Today Show (NBC) 17.8 22.1 15.7 21.1 15.9 10.4 20.4 20.2 17.9 9.6 Face the Nation 17.7 25.6 15.2 12.5 20.4 15.1 16.0 14.8 12.7 13.8 (CBS)

SOURCE: Opinion Leaders 2019/A National Study of Contemporary Issue Involvement & Media Influence syndicated survey. Based on results of 2,138 completed surveys, Erdos & Morgan estimated there were 660,871 opinion leaders nationwide in the following sectors: executive and congressional branches of the government, state and local government, executives of trade and professional organizations, and persons from the following occupational groups: business, communications and media, education, healthcare, law and science. Opinion leaders, for the purpose of this study, are defined as those individuals whose influence on business, social, political, environmental and educational issues far exceed their numbers in the population. They exercise far-reaching and powerful influences on the opinions of their fellow Americans by framing and defining the issues that will largely determine the future course of the nation. Please note: The 2019 Erdos & Morgan Opinion Leaders Study also provides data on viewing habits (coverage) for groups that influence specific issues in the private sector. These issues include: business issues; environmental & energy issues; health, education & human services issues; law & legal issues; agricultural issues; defense & national security issues; science & technology issues; economic & financial issues; the arts & media issues; legislative/government policy issues; and trade/global economic issues. For example, viewership data among individuals who influence arts or military and defense spending is available for the PBS programs included in the study as well as other news and public affairs print and television media.