Good Morning America averaged the most total viewers, while NBC’s Today show averaged the most viewers in the key A25-54 demo during the week of July 5.
According to live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen, ABC’s morning show averaged 3.23 million total viewers, and 762,000 adults 25-54 for each first-run broadcast this past week. Relative to the prior week (June 28), that’s a -1% decline in total viewers, but flat among adults 25-54. Compared to the same week one year ago, GMA shed -4% of its average total audience and -16% of its adults 25-54 audience.
NBC’s Today averaged 805,000 adults 25-54 during the week of July 5. That’s a -4% loss from the prior week, and a -16% decrease from the same week one year ago. Today also averaged 3.14 million total viewers this past week, which is up less than +1% from the previous week, but -4% from the comparable week in 2020.
Nevertheless, Today’s win in the demo marks 302 out of the last 306 weeks in first place. The NBC morning show also averaged more total viewers than GMA on Tuesday and Friday.
Third-place CBS This Morning averaged 2.57 million total viewers, and 498,000 adults 25-54 for the week of July 5. CTM grew by less than +1% in those measurements. However, the broadcast shed -1% in average total viewers, and lost -15% of its A25-54 audience from the year-ago week.
ABC’s, CBS’ and NBC’s weekly averages are based on four days (Tuesday-Friday). Each network removed Monday due to it being a federal holiday, when viewership tends to be quite low.
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. We should also expect ratings to decline even more, especially in the demos, as we move further into summer. But that’s true across TV, not exclusively news.
Nielsen Live-plus-same-day numbers for the week of July 5, 2021:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 3,226,000 | 3,141,000 | 2,571,000 |
| • A25-54: | 762,000 | 805,000 | 498,000 |