For the 13th consecutive week, ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today split the weekly morning show ratings race. GMA averaged its largest average total audience (3.32 million viewers) since the week of Aug. 30, while Today captured the most adults 25-54 (949,000) of any morning show for the week of Oct. 25, 2021.
This is according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day for the sixth week of the 2021-’22 TV season.
In addition to out-performing rival Today by an average of +56,000 total viewers per original broadcast last week, GMA grew by +3% average total viewers. However, the morning show actually lost -2% of its adults 25-54 audience from the previous week. Compared with the year-ago week (Oct. 26, 2020), however, GMA shed -2% in total viewers and -12% in the A25-54 demo.
Nevertheless, season to date, GMA is ranking as No. 1 morning newscast in total viewers for the 10th year in a row.
NBC’s Today finished the week No. 1 among adults 25-54, which means the program has earned either an outright win or first-place tie in the key A25-54 demo for 317 out of the past 322 weeks. In addition to averaging 949,000 adults 25-54 (+164,000 than GMA and +425,000 than CBS Mornings), Today averaged 3.265 million total viewers during the week of Oct. 25.
For the second consecutive week, NBC’s morning show saw week-to-week growth multiple audience measurements. The program grew +3% in average total viewers, and gained +3% among adults 25-54 from the previous week; and in a rare occurrence, Today did not post year-over-year losses in average total viewers. It averaged 3.265 million total viewers this past week, and 3.264 million the week of Oct. 26, 2020. Additionally, Today posted its best Halloween advantages over GMA in four years and its biggest week-over-week demo gains in 15 years. Additionally, The 3rd Hour of Today, and Today with Hoda & Jenna each posted their highest-rated shows of the season on Halloween.
On the downside, NBC’s morning show did shed -8% of its adults 25-54 audience from the comparable week in 2020. The week of Oct. 26, 2020 was the final full week before the 2020 election, a time when more people under 55 flocked to TV news than usual.
CBS Mornings averaged 2.55 million total viewers to go with 524,000 A25-54 viewers last week. That’s +1% in average total viewers but -2% adults 25-54 from the previous week. The broadcast also shed -5% of its average total audience and -17% of its A25-54 audience from the same week in 2020.
Live-plus-same-day numbers for the week of Oct. 25, 2021:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 3,321,000 | 3,265,000 | 2,552,000 |
| • A25-54: | 785,000 | 949,000 | 524,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54. Live + SD Current Week (w/o 10/25/21), Previous Week (w/o 10/18/21) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 10/26/20). Most Current: 2021 -2022 Season (9/20 – 10/31/21) and 2020 -2021 Season (9/21 – 11/1/20). Beginning 8/31/20, national ratings also include Out of Home (OOH) viewing. Averages based on regular telecasts.