For the ninth consecutive week, ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today split the morning show ratings race.
According to live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen, GMA averaged 3.56 million viewers for the week of June 8, +153,000 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 finished behind Today when it came to drawing the Adults 25-54 demo. By averaging 1.05 million demo viewers, Today has now defeated its ABC and CBS morning rivals in the key measurement 231 of the past 233 weeks. GMA averaged 970,000 A25-54 viewers for the week.
CBS This Morning remained in third place, averaging 2.69 million Total Viewers and only 578,000 A25-54 viewers for the week.
How did the morning shows trend compared to other relevant weeks?
Well, predictably the shows trended down from prior weeks, as the weather continues to improve and the breaking news cycle seems to be calming down. At least for the time being.
Compared to the prior week in 2020 (week of June 1), GMA was -8% in the A25-54 demo and -5% in Total Viewers, and Today was -6% in the demo and -6% in Total Viewers. CBS This Morning was -10% in the demo and -5% from the previous week in Total Viewers.
Unlike its evening newscast counterparts, the morning shows continue to lose viewers on a year-over-year basis. Compared to the same week in 2019 (week of June 10), GMA was -8% in Total Viewers and -9% in the demo. Today was -6% in Total Viewers and -8% in the demo. CTM was -5% in Total Viewers, but -14% in the demo.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day numbers for the week of June 8:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 3,564,000 | 3,411,000 | 2,694,000 |
| • A25-54: | 970,000 | 1,045,000 | 578,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD, Current Week (w/o 6/8/20), Previous Week (w/o 6/1/20) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 6/10/19). Most Current: 2019 -2020 Season (9/23/19 – 6/14/20) and 2018 -2019 Season (9/24/18 – 6/16/19). Averages based on regular telecasts.