A closely followed 2022 Midterm Elections resulted in ABC’s Good Morning America finishing No. 1 in both total viewers and in the A25-54 demographic for the week of November 7.
All morning shows recorded growth in total viewers compared to the previous week, as many tuned in to get the latest news regarding the various races being contested during this election cycle.
GMA had ceded the Adults 25-54 demo to NBC’s Today show for the past few weeks. However, ABC’s top-rated Tuesday Election Night coverage (No. 1 among the broadcast networks) gave the network’s morning show a boost, and the Wednesday, Nov. 9 broadcast of GMA attracted the show’s largest A25-54 audience in more than five months (813,000 A25-54).
According to live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen, ABC’s GMA averaged 3.27 million total viewers and 740,000 A25-54 viewers for the week of Nov. 7. That’s +8% in total viewers and by +2% in A25-54 when compared to the previous week. Looking at GMA’s performance to the same week in 2021, the morning show is trending downwards as it saw declines in total viewers and the adults 25-54 demo at -5% and -11%, respectively.
NBC’s Today remained No. 2 in total viewers but lost its top spot in the A25-54 demo to GMA. It will be interesting to see if this drop is just a one-off due to the heavy interest in the midterms.
For the week of Nov. 7, Today averaged nearly three million total viewers and 734,000 A 25-54 viewers. Compared to the previous week, Today gained up +3% in total viewers but shed -2% in the A25-54 demo. It was the only morning show to see a decline in demo viewers. When looking at the numbers from the same week in 2021, the Today show was down -11% in total viewers and -20% in A25-54.
CBS Mornings came in third place in both total viewers and A25-54 this past week. However, the show’s 2.57 million total viewer average for the week of Nov. 7 is a solid +11% rom the prior week, while its 591,000 A25-54 viewer average is +10% from the prior week. Looking at the same week in 2021, CBS Mornings is -2% in total viewers but up +6% in the A25-54 demo.
Season to date, CBS Mornings has tightened the gap with NBC from last year by 33% in total viewers and 51% in A25-54, and with ABC by 10% in total viewers and by 33% in A25-54.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day numbers for the week of Nov. 7:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 3,266,000 | 2,976,000 | 2,567,000 |
| • A25-54: | 740,000 | 734,000 | 591,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 11/7/22), Previous Week (w/o 10/31/22) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 11/8/21).Most Current Data Stream: Season 2022-2023 (9/19 – 10/13/22), Season 2021-2022 (9/20 – 11/14/21). Beginning 8/31/20, national ratings also include Out of Home (OOH) viewing. Averages based on regular telecasts.