With Diane Sawyer’s shift from mornings to evenings come January, we wanted to see how the ratings stacked up for both ABC dayparts against the competition:
• Season-to-date (Sept. 22, 2008 – August 23, 2009), #2 morning broadcast “Good Morning America” is averaging 4.351 million Total Viewers, down 4% during the same period last year (4.534 million).
The #1 morning show, NBC’s “Today,” leads GMA by 25% (1,086,000) in Total Viewers, up from a 23% (1,029,000) lead during the same period last season.
• Season-to-date (Sept. 22, 2008 – August, 30 2009), #2 ABC’s “World News” is down 4% in Total Viewers and down 6% in A25-54 viewers versus the same period last season.
The #1 evening show, “NBC Nightly News” is up 1% in Total Viewers and up 4% A25-54 viewers and has increased its Total Viewer advantage over “World News” to 10% (+812,000) versus a 4% lead (+363,000) during the same period last season.
“World News” also has the biggest year-to-year declines among the three evening newscasts (NBC +1%, ABC -4%, CBS -1%).