For the third consecutive week, Good Morning America and the Today show split the morning show ratings race. GMA averaged the most total viewers, while Today captured the most adults 25-54.
The legendary NBC morning show averaged 983,000 viewers from the A25-54 demo, which is +80,000 more than GMA and +394,000 more than CBS This Morning.
Today has earned either an outright win or a first-place tie in the A25-54 measurement for 242 of the past 244 weeks. Today has also won the morning show race in the A25-54 demo outright 241 of the past 244 weeks and has been No. 1 in the mornings among Adults 25-54 for 59 consecutive months.
Compared to the prior week (Aug. 17). the morning shows trended quite well (something we rarely get to write these days). Today was +9% in the A25-54 demo and +7% in total viewers. Compared with the year-ago week, the trend was worse. Today show was -10% in total viewers and -11% in the A25-54 demo.
According to the most current data from Nielsen, an average of 3.35 million total viewers tuned into Good Morning America this past week, which is roughly +99,000 more than what Today averaged for the week and +801,000 more than what CBS This Morning averaged for the week.
GMA also averaged 903,000 adults 25-54, second behind Today but ahead of CTM.
The ABC morning show was +5% in total viewers and +10% in demo viewers from the prior week. GMA also posted its largest average audience in five weeks. However, the broadcast was -12% in total viewers and -15% in adults 25-54 versus the year-ago week (Aug. 26, 2019).
To be fair, for Today and Good Morning America the week of Aug. 26, 2019 had been each show’s most-watched week in roughly three months.
GMA is the most-watched morning news show for the eighth straight year.
CBS This Morning remained in third place this past week, averaging 2.55 million total viewers and 589,000 A25-54 viewers.
Compared to the prior week, CTM was +3% in average total viewers and +3% in adults 25-54. However, compared to the year-ago week, the broadcast was -10% in total viewers and a whopping -25% in adults 25-54.
Live-plus-same-day numbers for the week of Aug. 24:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 3,346,000 | 3,247,000 | 2,545,000 |
| • A25-54: | 903,000 | 983,000 | 589,000 |