Last week’s morning show ratings were a bit offbeat, due in part to Oscars audience carryover on Monday and the Michael Cohen testimony on Wednesday.
As has been the case consistently over the past seven years, Good Morning America was the most-watched morning show for the week.
But what is far less consistently is that the ABC morning show posted audience growth of +3 percent in total viewers, and +1 percent among A25-54 viewers vs. the same week last year.
GMA outdelivered Today by +208,000 total viewers, substantially increasing its lead from the year-ago week (+617 percent) to its largest in over 4 months – since week of Oct. 1, 2018.
Carryover from ABC’s Oscars broadcast undoubtedly lifted GMA’s ratings last week, particularly on Monday. In fact, GMA’s Feb. 25 telecast was the show’s most-watched telecast in 14 months, and highest-rated telecast in 11 months among A25-54 viewers – since Oct. 2, 2017 and March 21, 2018, respectively.
While GMA took center stage, particularly at the start of the week, the program was still not able to dethrone NBC’s Today show in the A25-54 demographic for Monday through Friday time period. Today marked 166 consecutive weeks as the No. 1 morning show in the key A25-54 demo. Today also won last Tuesday and Thursday.
Today was -1 percent in total viewers, and -5 percent among adults 25-54 vs. the comparable week last year.
CBS This Morning was -8 percent in total viewers, and -9 percent among adults 25-54 vs. last year.
Lastly, due to the Michael Cohen testimony on Wednesday, GMA was retitled to “Good Morning, Amer, “CBS This Morning” was retitled to “CBS This Morn,” and “Today” was retitled to “Today show-TS.” Each telecast is excluded from the weekly averages. ABC’s CBS’ and NBC’s weekly averages are based four days (Mon-Tue, Thurs-Fri).
Numbers for the week of Feb. 25, 2019:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 4,396,000 | 4,188,000 | 3,134,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,341,000 | 1,431,000 | 831,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD, Current Week (w/o 2/25/19), and Year-Ago Week (w/o 2/26/18). Season to date: Most Current: 2018 -2019 Season (9/24/18 – 3/3/19) and 2017-2018 Season (9/25/18 – 3/4/18). Averages based on regular telecasts.