When it came to morning TV during the week of June 14, ABC’s Good Morning America averaged the most total viewers, while NBC’s Today show averaged the most viewers in the key A25-54 demo.
This result comes one week after Today finished No. 1 in both total viewers and adults 25-54, and two weeks after GMA won both of the aforementioned categories.
The ABC morning show averaged nearly 3.2 million total viewers and 808,000 adults 25-54 for each first-run broadcast this past week. Relative to the prior week, (June 7), that’s +1% growth in total viewers, but a -1% loss in adults 25-54. Compared to the same week one year ago (June 15, 2020), GMA shed -10% of its average total audience and -15% of its adults 25-54 audience.
According to live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen, NBC’s Today averaged 856,000 adults 25-54 during the week of June 14. That’s a -1% decline from the prior week (June 7), and a -12% decline compared to the same week one year ago (week of June 15, 2020). Today also averaged 3.1 million total viewers this past week, which is -3% from the previous week, and -6% from the comparable week in 2020.
Third-place CBS This Morning averaged more than 2.5 million total viewers but just 473,000 adults 25-54 for the week of June 14. Compared to the prior week, CTM lost -3% in average total viewers, and -5% in adults 25-54. The broadcast shed -5% in average total viewers, and lost nearly a fifth of its A25-54 audience (-19%) from the year-ago week.
Despite these losses, CBS This Morning is managing to deliver its narrowest season-to-date ratings gaps with the competition dating back to 1991. However, as the above numbers make clear, this doesn’t mean CTM’s ratings are exactly skyrocketing, it just means the show’s year-over-year ratings losses are often less severe than what GMA and Today see.
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 election campaign at this time last year, but the overall news cycle is far calmer these days than it was at any point in 2020. We should also expect ratings to decline even more as we move further into summer. But that’s true across TV, not exclusively news.
Additionally, Americans have been fleeing the broadcast morning shows for years now, even prior to the pandemic, with a fair number heading to cable, streaming, newsletters, podcasts, etc. in the morning, which adversely effects morning television’s Nielsen linear ratings.
Nielsen Live-plus-same-day numbers for the week of June 14, 2021
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 3,186,000 | 3,121,000 | 2,517,000 |
| • A25-54: | 808,000 | 856,000 | 473,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54. Live + SD Current Week (w/o 6/14/21), Previous Week (w/o 6/7/21) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 6/15/20). Most Current: 2020 -2021 Season (9/21/20 – 6/20/21) and Most Current: 2019 -2020 Season (9/23/19 – 6/21/20). *Beginning 8/31/20, national ratings also include Out of Home (OOH) viewing. Averages based on regular telecasts.