ABC’s Good Morning America was the most-watched morning show during Halloween week, averaging +102,000 total viewers than NBC’s Today show.
While on the surface this might not seem like much of an upset (GMA often averages the largest total audience), Today has won Halloween week across the board in recent years, and won every week in November 2018, both among total viewers and A25-54. However, that was not the case this past week.
On Halloween Thursday, GMA outperformed Today by +284,000 total viewers to beat the NBC program on Halloween by its largest overall viewer Halloween-margin since 2014. In addition, GMA turned in its most-watched Halloween telecast since 2016.
For the week of Oct. 28, GMA averaged its largest overall audience in 5 months and strongest A25-54 demo performance in over 7 months – since weeks of May 20 and March 4, respectively.
Today was still the No. 1 morning show last week in the key demo A25-54. The win marks 199 out of 201 weeks in first place. Today also won in total viewers Monday and Wednesday, and posted five-month highs in both total viewers and the key demo, averaging its largest audience since May.
Yes, they’re in third, but CBS This Morning showed some year-over-year growth among younger news viewers. The program was +1% in the key A25-54 demo vs. the week of Oct. 29, 2018. No other program posted any year-over-year audience growth.
Compared to the same week last year, GMA was -1% in total viewers, and -5% in the key A25-54 demo. Today was -4% in total viewers and -7% among adults 25-54. CBS This Morning was -1% in total viewers, and +1% among adults 25-54.
Average audience for the week of Oct. 28 2019:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 3,943,000 | 3,841,000 | 2,945,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,198,000 | 1,273,000 | 784,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD, 2018-2019 Current Week (w/o 10/28/19), Previous Week (w/o 10/21/19) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 10/29/18). Most Current: 2019 -2020 Season (9/23 – 11/3/19) and 2018 -2019 Season (9/24 – 11/4/18). Averages based on regular telecasts.