Good Morning America was most-watched morning show during the week of July 19, while NBC’s Today averaged the most adults 25-54.
GMA was No. 1 during the week prior—both in total viewers and among adults 25-54—and almost repeated the rare feat this past week.
According to live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen, ABC’s morning show averaged 3.10 million total viewers, and 808,000 adults 25-54 for each first-run broadcast this past week. The 808,000 average in the key demo is a four-week high for GMA in the measurement.
Relative to the prior week (July 12), that’s a -3% decline in total viewers, but +3% growth in adults 25-54. Compared to the same week one year ago, GMA shed -7% of its average total audience and -11% of its adults 25-54 audience.
Season to date, GMA is the most-watched morning show for the 9th year in a row, and is increasing its lead over Today from the same point last season to its largest in 4 years—since the 2016-2017 season (+51% year-over-year).
NBC’s Today averaged 814,000 adults 25-54 during the week of July 19, which is +6,000 more than GMA. The 814,000 average in the demo represents a +10% gain from the prior week, but a -19% decrease from the same week one year ago. Today averaged 3.01 million total viewers this past week, which is up +4% from the previous week but a -9% drop from the comparable week in 2020.
One should expect to see more week-to-week ratings growth for Today as NBC’s Tokyo Olympics coverage continues this month and into next.
Third-place CBS This Morning averaged nearly 2.44 million total viewers and 469,000 adults 25-54 for the week of July 19. That’s -1% in average total viewers but +1% in adults 25-54 from the previous week, -5% in average total viewers and -19% of its A25-54 audience from the year-ago week.
As we’ve mentioned in recent ratings stories, the year-over-year Nielsen ratings decline for all of these shows makes sense. Not only were many Americans more likely to watch the morning shows for breaking news coverage of the pandemic and the presidential election campaign at this time last year, but the general news cycle is far calmer these days than it was in 2020.
Nielsen Live-plus-same-day numbers for the week of July 19, 2021:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 3,104,000 | 3,014,000 | 2,435,000 |
| • A25-54: | 808,000 | 814,000 | 469,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 ; Live + SD Current Week (w/o 7/19/21), Previous Week (w/o 7/12/21) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 7/20/20). Most Current: 2020 -2021 Season (9/21/20 – 7/25/21) and Most Current: 2019 -2020 Season (9/23/19 – 7/26/20). *Beginning 8/31/20, national ratings also include Out of Home (OOH) viewing. Averages based on regular telecasts.