‘Good Morning America’ Swipes Rare Victory in News Demo From ‘Today’

Brian Steinberg
·2 min read
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“Good Morning America” eked out a victory on a different battlefield in TV’s ongoing morning-news wars.

The ABC News program typically wins the biggest audience among morning-news programs, while NBC News rival “Today” typically dominated in the critical category of viewers between 25 and 54 — the demographic that governs how much advertisers pay for each show. Last week, however, “GMA” prevailed in both, the first time in more than four months that it has done so.

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“It’s an incredible win as we deal with the challenges of still broadcasting and working during a pandemic,” says Simone Swink, executive producer of “Good Morning America.” “Our team remains laser-focused on delivering the best straightforward, relevant and engaging news. We love our viewers who join us every morning and make this possible!” NBC News could not be reached for immediate comment.

According to Nielsen, “GMA” won 47,000 more viewers in the 25-to-54 category than “Today” for the five days ended May 6. “GMA” has an average of 815,000 viewers between the ages of 25 and 54, compared with 768,000 for “Today” and 547,000 for “CBS Mornings.” The ABC News show also captured the most viewers overall for the time period, winning nearly 3.4 million, compared with nearly 2.96 million for “Today” and 2.43 million for “CBS Mornings,” according to data from Nielsen.

Season to date, “Today” continues to beat “GMA” among the crucial advertiser demo.

“GMA” won another interesting victory over its rival in the recent past. In February, the ABC program won more viewers overall than “Today” during NBC’s first week of coverage of the Winter Olympics from Beijing, the first time it had done so in more than three decades. “Today” typically dominates the morning-news ratings during NBC’s Olympics coverage, but the effects on the scheduling of the event during the pandemic — the Summer and Winter Games took place within six months of each other — likely spurred some viewer fatigue around the sports extravaganza.

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