The morning show ratings battle became quite competitive during the second week of December. ABC News’ Good Morning America, traditionally the most-watched morning show by a substantial margin, beat NBC News’ Today by a slim margin of 70,000 total viewers this past week. Meanwhile, GMA beat CBS Mornings in the A25-54 demo by only +14,000 A25-54 viewers (521,000 vs. 507,000) — the smallest gap between ABC and CBS in weekday mornings going back to at least 1991.
According to live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen, GMA averaged 2.805 million total viewers and 521,000 viewers in the A25-54 demo for the week of Dec. 11. When compared to the previous week , GMA -2% in total viewers and -4% in the A25-54 demo. When compared against the show’s performance at this time last year, GMA is down in total viewers by -18% in total viewers and -32% in the A25-54 demo.
NBC’s Today stretched its morning show winning streak in the A25-54 demo to 18 consecutive weeks. The program averaged 686,000 viewers in the measurement, substantially more than its ABC and CBS rivals. However, as noted earlier, Today remains runner up to GMA in total viewers, averaging 2.925 million for the week of Dec. 11. When checking the show’s numbers from the previous week, Today is up +1% in total viewers and flat in the A25-54 demo. Compared to the same week in 2022, however, Today’s total viewers and A25-54 averages are down by -8% and -11%, respectively.
Despite its third-place finish, CBS Mornings showed positive gains in multiple measurements, averaging 2.315 million total viewers and 507,000 A25-54 viewers for the week of Dec. 11. CBS Mornings and GMA are separated by only +14,000 A25-54 viewers, with CBS Mornings actually beating GMA in the measurement on two separate days this past week — Monday and Thursday. This marks the closest a CBS News morning show had gotten to GMA ever, dating back to at least 1991. Compared to the previous week, CBS Mornings was up in total viewers by +5% and +19% in the A25-54 demo. Compared with the same week in 2022, however, CBS Mornings is down in total viewers and A25-54 by -9% and -7%, respectively.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day numbers for the week of Dec. 11, 2023:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 2,871,000 | 2,805,000 | 2,315,000 |
| • A25-54: | 521,000 | 686,000 | 507,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 12/11/23), Previous Week (w/o 12/4/23) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 12/5/22). Most Current Data Stream: 2022-2023 Season (9/25 – 12/17/22) and 2022-2023 Season (9/19 – 12/11/22). Beginning 8/31/20, national ratings also include Out of Home (OOH) viewing. Averages based on regular telecasts.