Good Morning America and Today show split first place in the morning show Nielsen ratings race for the week of Sept. 20, 2021. The ABC morning show out-performed the NBC morning by an average of +64,000 total viewers to win premiere week in total viewers for the 10th year in a row (since 2012-’13). The NBC morning show, on the other hand, out-delivered its ABC rival in the adults 25-54 category by an average of +128,000 from that measurement last week.
Relative to the previous week (Sept. 13), GMA improved by +1% in average total viewers, but shed -6% of its audience from the A25-54 demo. Compared to the year-ago week, ABC’s morning show was down -3% in total viewers and a whopping -22% among adults 25-54.
NBC’s Today had a nice week, despite not finishing No. 1 in total viewers. NBC’s morning show continued its run at No. 1 in the mornings among adults 25-54 (312 of the past 317 weeks)—averaging 906,000 viewers from the measurement. Today averaged 3.25 million total viewers. Compared to the previous week (Sept. 13), Today improved by +5% in average total viewers and by +5% among the key A25-54 demo. Compared to the same week in 2020, however, NBC’s morning show was down by -1% in average total viewers, and -12% in adults 25-54; although those year-over-year losses are far less severe than what ABC and CBS experienced.
CBS Mornings averaged 2.41 million total viewers and 498,000 adults 25-54. That’s slightly up (less than +1%) in average total viewers, but -1% in 25-54 viewers from what Mornings drew the previous week. The program shed a larger percent of its viewers from the year-ago week (-4% in total viewers, -15% in the key demo).
Due to President Biden’s special report on Tuesday, Sept. 21, ABC’s, CBS’ and NBC’s weekly ratings averages for their morning shows are based on just four days (Monday, Wednesday-Friday), as opposed to the usual five-day average.
Nielsen live-plus-same-day numbers for the week of Sept. 20:
| ABC | NBC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 3,315,000 | 3,251,000 | 2,411,000 |
| • A25-54: | 778,000 | 906,000 | 498,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54. Live + SD Current Week (w/o 9/20/21), Previous Week (w/o 9/13/21) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 9/21/20). Beginning 8/31/20, national ratings also include Out of Home (OOH) viewing. Averages based on regular telecasts.