Good Morning America and Today split the morning show ratings competition during the week of July 20.
According to the most current data from Nielsen, an average of 3.35 million viewers tuned in to each original weekday broadcast of GMA last week. That’s an average of just +25,000 more total viewers than its NBC rival Today.
Season to date, GMA is the most-watched morning news show for the eighth straight year.
GMA may have averaged a larger total audience than its NBC and CBS competition, as has regularly been the case over these past eight years, but it again finished behind Today when it came to the advertiser-preferred 25-54 demo.
Today managed to average slightly more than a million A25-54 viewers last week, and beat GMA in the demo, 1,006,000 to 905,000.
NBC’s morning show has earned either an outright win or a first-place tie in the A25-54 measurement for 237 of the past 239 weeks. Today has won the morning show race in the demo outright 236 of the past 239 weeks.
Today has been No. 1 in the mornings among Adults 25-54 for 59 consecutive months.
CBS This Morning remained in third place, averaging 2.56 million Total Viewers and just 577,000 A25-54 viewers for the week.
How did these figures compare with those from other relevant weeks?
Compared to the week before (July 13), GMA stayed flat in average Total Viewers and grew an impressve +5% in the key A25-54 demo. Today posted week-to-week growth in multiple measurements, also +5% in the demo and +1% in Total Viewers. CBS This Morning was -5% in the demo and -3% in average Total Viewers.
Compared to the same week in 2019 (week of July 22), the shows continue to fall, as viewers turn to the politics-focused cable morning shows or are consuming each program’s brand in alternative ways. GMA was -6% in average Total Viewers and -6% in the demo versus the comparable week last year. Today was actually OK, just -2% in average total viewership and -1% in the demo. CTM was -3% in Total Viewers and -12% in the demo.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day numbers for the week of July 20:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 3,351,000 | 3,326,000 | 2,563,000 |
| • A25-54: | 905,000 | 1,006,000 | 577,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD, Current Week (w/o 7/20/20), Previous Week (w/o 7/13/20) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 7/22/19). Most Current: 2019 -2020 Season (9/23/19 – 7/26/20) and 2018 -2019 Season (9/24/18 – 7/28/19). Averages based on regular telecasts.