The NBC Nightly News may have finished No. 2 in the evening ratings race last week, but Today show picked up the slack for NBC in the mornings, defeating rivals Good Morning America and CBS This Morning during the week of Dec. 16.
Today was the No. 1 morning show in all relevant categories, including average total viewership. Today’s performance during the week of Dec. 16 represents the show’s 3rd consecutive across-the-board win and its 9th across-the-board win in 2019 to-date.
Per data from Nielsen, the NBC morning show also posted its largest advantage in average total audience since the Pyeongchang Olympics, and its largest lead over GMA in the demo in almost 1 year.
Despite the great week for Today and its continued among A25-54 audiences, Good Morning America still averages the largest total audience, both for the Nielsen calendar year, the 4th quarter of 2019 and for the 2019-2020 broadcast season to-date.
GMA is the most-watched morning show for the 8th year in a row, and is more than doubling its advantage over Today (3.78 million) versus last season (+139% – 86,000 vs. 36,000) to its largest in 3 years.
CBS This Morning remains in 3rd place and is looking for some year-over-year growth, similar to its competitors.
Compared with the same week in 2018, GMA was -8% in total viewers, Today was -5% and CBS This Morning was -4%. Among adults 25-54, GMA was -12%, Today was -7%, and CTM was -12%.
On Friday (12/21/18), ABC’s and CTM weekly averages are based on 4 days (Mon-Thu), while Today’s were based on all 5, something that’s worth noting that examining year-over-year performance.
Lastly, we’ll publish a report next week analyzing final Q4 2019 ratings for the morning shows.
The averages for the week of Dec. 16, 2019:
| Network | ABC | NBC | CBS |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 3,784,000 | 3,919,000 | 3,011,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,084,000 | 1,324,000 | 759,000 |
Source: Nielsen live-plus-same-day data. Numbers shown above could increase as Most Current Data continues to trickle in.