The weekly morning show ratings race followed a recent trend: Good Morning America finished the week No. 1 in total viewers, while Today remained at the top among adults 25-54. ABC, NBC and CBS were all down relative to the comparable week in 2016.
Despite posting double digit year-over-year decline in both total viewers (-12 percent) and the news demo (-16 percent), GMA still managed to increase its margin of victory over Today from the same week last year by +32 percent. The program also drew its best demo delivery in 8 weeks (week of Feb. 27, 2017). Season to date, ABC is home to the No. 1 morning newscast in total viewers, leading Today by +191,000 to take the top spot at this point of the season for the 5th year in a row.
Today is the go-to morning show among adults 25-54, and has been for 20 straight months. This is the program’s best streak in more than four years. On the downside, Today was -14 percent in total viewers and -16 percent in the demo versus the week of April 25, 2016. Nevertheless, the show managed to post its largest total viewer delivery in 7 weeks.
CBS This Morning experienced the least-severe year-over-year audience dropoff this past week. CTM was -5 percent in total viewers and -11 percent in the news demo.
But if there’s ever a week where CTM finally pulls ahead of Today in total viewers or ahead of GMA in the news demo, this might be the week. The program broadcast live from inside the White House on Monday. Several administration officials were interviewed live, including Mike Pence, Gary Cohn, Reince Priebus, and Ivanka Trump. We’ll know for sure at this time next week.
The averages for the week of April 24, 2017:
- Total Viewers: ABC: 4.380 M / NBC: 4.030 M / CBS: 3.617 M
- A25-54 viewers: ABC: 1.402 M / NBC: 1.513 M / CBS: 1.013 M