The morning shows struggled this past sweeps period relative to July 2016. But one trend remained the same: ABC’s Good Morning America finished No. 1 in total viewers, while NBC’s Today won the ad-friendly A25-54 demo.
GMA was -9 percent in total viewers and -14 percent in the demo relative to last year. While that’s not exactly a spectacular trend, the performance represented GMA’s 6th straight July victory and 21st consecutive sweep victory overall (since July 2012) in total viewers. ABC’s morning show also built on its total viewer lead over Today by +6 percent compared to the July 2016 sweep.
Today experienced the most significant audience dropoff of the three morning shows, -10 percent in total viewers and -18 percent in the demo from July 2016. But NBC’s morning show continues to dominate ABC and CBS in the A25-54 demo, one which news advertisers crave. Today has won 9 consecutive sweeps in the demo, and its wins over GMA have reached 5-year highs this season to-date.
CBS This Morning remains mired in third place. On the plus side, the show experienced the least severe audience dropoff from July 2016. CTM was -2 percent in total viewers and -13 percent in the A25-54 demo.
The averages for July 2017 Sweep:
- Total Viewers: ABC: 3.818 M / NBC: 3.618 M / CBS: 3.215 M
- A25-54 viewers: ABC: 1.169 M / NBC: 1.266 M / CBS: 800 k