After a week where Good Morning America faced intense pressure from both NBC’s Today and CBS Mornings in the total viewers and Adults 25-54 demos, respectively, ABC’s morning show saw some meaningful separation in average total viewers to enter the holiday period.
GMA was the only show to see week-to-week gains in both measured demos–Total Viewers and A25-54–while Today saw gains in the A25-54 demo, and CBS Mornings experienced declines in both categories.
According to live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen, ABC News’ GMA more than averaged 2.92 million total viewers and 544,000 viewers in the A25-54 demo for the week of Dec. 18. GMA’s performance when compared to the previous week is up by +2% in total viewers and +4% in the A25-54 demo. Looking at the morning show’s performance to the same week in 2022, GMA was down in total viewers by -15% and saw a sharp drop of -31% in the A25-54 demo.
NBC News’ Today remained first in the A25-54 demo with an average of 698,000 viewers. It was second in total viewers for the week of Dec. 18 with 2.79 million average. Today show’s A25-54 demo winning streak has now stretched to 19 straight weeks.
When checking the show’s numbers from the previous week, Today was down -1% in total viewers and up +2% in the A25-54 demo. Compared to the same week in 2022, Today’s total viewers and A25-54 numbers decreased by -11% and -14%, respectively.
CBS Mornings remains the No. 3 morning show by averaging more than 2.22 million total viewers and 443,000 viewers in A25-54 for the week of Dec. 18. Compared to the previous week, CBS Mornings was down in total viewers by -4% and a surprising -13% in the A25-54 demo. Looking at the same period in 2022, CBS Mornings dropped in total viewers and A25-54 by -13% and -17%, respectively.
Note: As a result of the long Christmas weekend, both Today and CBS Mornings retitled their Friday editions of their broadcasts to Today-TS and CBS Morn. These retitled telecasts have been excluded from the weekly and season averages. CBS’ and NBC’s weekly averages are based on four days (Monday-Thursday).
Nielsen live-plus-same-day numbers for the week of Dec. 18, 2023:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 2,922,000 | 2,786,000 | 2,223,000 |
| • A25-54: | 544,000 | 698,000 | 446,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 12/18/23), Previous Week (w/o 12/11/23) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 12/12/22). Most Current Data Stream: 2022-2023 Season (9/25 – 12/24/22) and 2022-2023 Season (9/19 – 12/17/22). Beginning 8/31/20, national ratings also include Out of Home (OOH) viewing. Averages based on regular telecasts.