For the first time since the week of Sept. 11, 1995, ABC’s “Good Morning America” has won a week in the A25-54 demo, ending “Today’s” streak at #1 at 899 weeks. (“Today” is still claiming it has hit 900 weeks because, despite a +12,000 viewer lead by “GMA,” the two shows tied in the A25-54 rating with a 1.5).
“GMA” broke “Today’s” 16 year Total Viewer streak in April, and had been creeping up on the demo in recent weeks. The win comes as the “Today” team anchored from London ahead of the Olympics, which is an instant ratings boon for NBC News programs. In fact, “Today” leads this week in both measurements by wide margins. (Final ratings for this week will be out next Thursday).
“GMA” also wins in Total Viewers for the fifth straight week with a +542,000 viewer advantage. This is the ABC show’s longest run at #1 in more than 18 years – since an 8-week streak from April 25, ’94 to June 13, ’94.
This is the first time in 20 years — since the 1992 Barcelona games — that “GMA” has topped “Today” in a week leading up to an Olympics.
Compared to the same week last year “GMA” is up +12% in total viewers and up +14% in the demo; “Today” is down -15% / -18%; “CBS This Morning” is flat in total viewers and down -2% in younger viewers.
The averages for the week of July 23:
- Total Viewers: ABC: 4.837M / NBC: 4.295M / CBS: 2.240M
- A25-54 viewers: ABC: 1.851M / NBC: 1.839M / CBS: 848K
“GMA” also wins the 2012 July sweep — its first since November 1995 — in total viewers while “Today” holds on to the win in the A25-54 demo for the month by a +24,000 viewer advantage. While ABC and CBS are up vs. July 2011, “Today” is down.
The averages for July 2012 Sweep:
- Total Viewers: ABC: 4.597M / NBC: 4.248M / CBS: 2.284M
- A25-54 viewers: ABC: 1.720M / NBC: 1.744M / CBS: 889K