‘Today’ Show Will Win Week That Saw Katie Couric on ‘GMA,’ as ABC Continues to Close the Gap

On Friday, NBC’s “Today” show held off ABC’s “Good Morning America” to win the day, and the week that saw highly-publicized ratings stunts we haven’t seen in a long time. According to Nielsen Fast National data, GMA got within +25,000 Total Viewers on Friday (it won in Total Viewers on Wednesday). “Today” won the demo each day. The news about the news culminated Friday with Matt Lauer announcing he’s signed a contract extension.

Compared to the same week last year, “GMA” was up +2% in Total Viewers and up +3% in A25-54 viewers, while “Today” was down -5% in Total Viewers and down -12% in younger viewers. Last year the gap was +567,000 Total Viewers. This year “Today” leads by less than half that, +210,000. The younger viewer gap has also been cut by more than half.

For the week of April 2, 2012:

• “Today” — 5,109,000 / 2,135,000

• “GMA” — 4,899,000 / 1,829,000

Here is a look at the week, day-by-day. The “Today” show’s best day in Total Viewers was Tuesday, when Sarah Palin guest co-hosted. The best day in the demo was Wednesday, when Ryan Seacrest was on. GMA’s best day in both Total Viewers and the demo was Wednesday, the morning after the “Dancing with the Stars” results show.