‘Good Morning America’ hits new low with younger viewers

By Chris Ariens 

A news-filled first quarter of 2011 helped ABC’s “Good Morning America” close the gap with #1 “NBC’s Today” show in total viewers. Last year “Today” led “GMA” by 1.24M total viewers. This past quarter that gap shrunk 41% to 730,000 viewers. “GMA” was also up +9% compared to Q1 2010.

But while the ABC show is up in total viewers, the first three months of 2011 saw the lowest delivery ever for the show in the lucrative A25-54 demo. GMA just got a new Senior EP in James Goldston and will soon get a new newsreader in Josh Elliott. Recent promoted programming seems to be geared toward younger demos, including last week’s Britney Spears concert and “big announcement” from Lady Gaga on tomorrow’s show.

Numbers for Q1 2011:

Advertisement
  • Total Viewers: NBC: 5,610,000 / ABC: 4,880,000 / CBS: 2,800,000
  • A25-54 viewers: NBC: 2,600,000 / ABC: 1,860,000 / CBS: 1,200,000

This is “Today’s” 63rd straight quarter win in total viewers and all demos. But the show was down -2% in total viewers vs. Q1 2010. CBS’s “The Early Show,” in its first full quarter with a new anchor team, was up +1% vs. Q1 2010.

Advertisement