For the 16th consecutive week, ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today split the weekly morning show ratings race. GMA averaged 3.39 million viewers, more than Today and CBS Mornings, while Today captured the most adults 25-54 of any morning show for the week of Nov. 15, 2021 (870,000).
This is according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day for the ninth week of the 2021-’22 TV season.
GMA out-performed rival Today by an average of +133,000 total viewers and CBS Mornings by +779,000 total viewers per original broadcast last week. Relative to the prior week, ABC’s morning show lost -1% in average total viewers, and -3% among adults 25-54. Additionally, GMA was -2% of its average total audience and -13% in the A25-54 demo from the year-ago week. Election time is a period when more Americans, especially those under 55, are focused on morning TV news than usual, so a double-digit year-over-year decline in the demo isn’t surprising.
Over on NBC, by winning the week of Nov. 15 among adults 25-54, Today has earned either an outright win or first-place tie in the key measurement 320 out of the past 325 weeks. Quite a run!
In addition to averaging 870,000 adults 25-54 (+65,000 than GMA and +317,000 than CBS Mornings) last week, Today averaged 3.26 million total viewers—more than CBS Mornings, but fewer than GMA. The 3.26 million total viewer average for Today is -2% from what the broadcast averaged the prior week, and the 870,000 adults 25-54 average is -5% from the previous week. NBC’s morning show shed -7% in average total viewers and lost 1/5 of its adults 25-54 audience (-20%) from the comparable week in 2020, one which Today won in all key measurements, including average total viewers.
Today did manage to beat GMA in total viewers on Monday, undoubtedly assisted by Sunday Night Football, and with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade broadcast set for Thursday, it’s very likely Today will win the current week across-the-board.
CBS Mornings averaged 2.61 million total viewers (the show’s largest average total audience since August) to go with 553,000 A25-54 viewers last week. That’s up less than +1% in average total viewers, but -1% adults 25-54 from the previous week. However, as was the case for ABC and NBC’s morning offerings, CBS was down from the comparable week in 2020, -7% in average total audience and -10% in A25-54 audience.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day numbers for the week of Nov. 15, 2021:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 3,393,000 | 3,260,000 | 2,614,000 |
| • A25-54: | 805,000 | 870,000 | 553,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54. Live + SD Current Week (w/o 11/15/21), Previous Week (w/o 11/8/21) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 11/16/20). Most Current: 2021 -2022 Season (9/20 – 11/21/21) and 2020 -2021 Season (9/21 – 11/22/20). Beginning 8/31/20, national ratings also include Out of Home (OOH) viewing. Averages based on regular telecasts.