NBC Today show’s double-victory in the morning show ratings battles (driven by the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade broadcast) was short-lived. Order was restored this past week with Good Morning America regaining the Nielsen morning ratings crown in total viewers, while Today continued to hold down the fort at No. 1 in the advertiser-coveted demo of Adults 25-54 for the week of November 27.
All morning shows experienced post-holiday blues, however, as they all had week-to-week declines in both categories compared to the previous week.
The week after Thanksgiving also saw GMA and CBS Mornings retitle two of their broadcasts. GMA retitled its Monday edition to GMA-ABC due to a live special report on the passing of former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. On Friday (12/1/23), CBS Mornings was retitled to CBS Morn. The retitled telecasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages, and as a result, ABC’s (Tuesday-Friday) and CBS’ (Monday-Thursday) weekly averages are based on four days.
According to live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen, ABC News’ GMA averaged 3.05 million total viewers and 615,000 viewers in the A25-54 demo for the week of Nov. 27. GMA’s performance when compared to the previous week was down in total viewers by -1% and -4% in the A25-54 demo. Looking at the morning show’s performance to the same week in 2022, GMA was down in total viewers by -10% and a drop of -19% in the A25-54 demo.
NBC News’ Today, on the other hand, saw its ratings fall back to earth after the Thanksgiving week highs, with 2,861,000 total viewers and 708,000 viewers in the A25-54 demo. Looking at the show’s numbers from the previous week, Today had double-digit declines (last week’s high numbers were mostly attributed to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade coverage being included in its weekly average) as it was down in both total viewers and A25-54 demo by -14% and -15%, respectively. Compared to the same week in 2022, Today’s total viewers and A25-54 numbers decreased by -4% and -5%, respectively.
CBS Mornings was the number three morning show with 2.26 million total viewers and 438,000 viewers in A25-54 for the week of Nov. 27. Compared to the previous week, CBS Mornings was down in total viewers by -4% and -2% in the A25-54 demo. Looking at the same period in 2022, CBS Mornings dropped in total viewers and in A25-54 by double digits, falling by -12% and -18%, respectively.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day numbers for the week of Nov. 27, 2023:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 3,054,000 | 2,861,000 | 2,262,000 |
| • A25-54: | 615,000 | 708,000 | 438,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 11/27/23), Previous Week (w/o 11/20/23) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 11/21/22). Most Current Data Stream: 2022-2023 Season (9/25 – 12/2/22) and 2022-2023 Season (9/19 – 11/27/22). Beginning 8/31/20, national ratings also include Out of Home (OOH) viewing. Averages based on regular telecasts.