For the eighth consecutive week, ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today split the morning show ratings race.
GMA averaged 3.75 million viewers for the week of June 1, +112,000 more than its NBC rival.
Season to date, GMA is the No. 1 morning newscast in Total Viewers for the eighth straight year.
ABC’s morning show may have averaged a larger total audience for the week, as is usually the case, but it once again played second fiddle to Today in Adults 25-54. By averaging 1.14 million A25-54 viewers, Today has now defeated its ABC and CBS morning competition in that key measurement 230 of the past 232 weeks. GMA averaged 1.05 million A25-54 viewers for the week.
CBS This Morning remained in third place, averaging 2.83 million total viewers and 645,000 A25-54 viewers for the week.
How did the morning shows trend compared to other relevant weeks?
Well, they performed especially well in the A25-54 demo, as younger and less-traditional TV news viewers flocked to the medium for coverage of the police brutality and racial injustice protests taking place across the country and in certain cities abroad.
Compared to the prior week in 2020 (week of May 25), GMA was +5% in the A25-54 demo and +1% in Total Viewers, and Today was +2% in the demo, but flat in Total Viewers. CBS This Morning was +1% in the demo, but -4% from the previous week in Total Viewers.
Despite the strong week-to-week performance among younger news demos, the morning shows continue to lose viewers on an annual basis. Compared to the same week in 2019 (week of June 3), GMA was -2% in Total Viewers and -2% in the demo. Today was -5% in Total Viewers and -7% in the demo. CTM was only -1% in Total Viewers, but continues to lose a significant adults 25-54 from 2019 and was -10% year over year.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day numbers for the week of June 1:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 3,750,000 | 3,638,000 | 2,825,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,050,000 | 1,114,000 | 645,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD, Current Week (w/o 6/1/20), Previous Week (w/o 5/25/20) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 6/3/19). Most Current: 2019 -2020 Season (9/23/19 – 6/7/20) and 2018 -2019 Season (9/24/18 – 6/9/19). Averages based on regular telecasts.