Morning Show Wars: Measuring The Gap

Fall into the gap. The Today Show is the #1 morning news broadcast for the 493th straight week, but GMA closed the gap with NBC to 90,000 viewers last week, according to an ABC press release. (Between Monday and Thursday, the gap was 8,000 viewers.) But two weeks ago, the gap was only 40,000 viewers. This time last year, the gap was at 880,000 viewers. ABC’s press release says GMA “continued to slash the gap,” shrinking The Today Show’s lead by 90% in total viewers.

> GMA tied Today on Monday and beat NBC on Tuesday, a press release notes. (That means NBC won every other day, a staffer noted.)

For the week of May 16, in total viewers and the 25-54 demo:

NBC: 5,660,000 / 2,760,000

ABC: 5,570,000 / 2,620,000

CBS: 2,670,000 / 1,290,000

> Two days ago (Tuesday), Today beat GMA by almost a million viewers.

> Update: 1:13pm: Quoting CBS’s press release: “Through 35 weeks of the 2004-05 television season, The Early Show is averaging nearly three million viewers and is in its best competitive position against the “Today” show in nine years in total viewers.”