MediaBuyerPlanner: After more than a decade of dominance in the morning show arena, NBC’s Today is losing some steam. It has been more than a year since Katie Couric left the show to anchor the nightly news on CBS, and since that time, the gap between Today and ABC’s Good Morning America has been narrowing.
The narrowing of the gap is due mainly to declines at Today, where Meredith Vieira took over Couric’s role, writes Media Life.
Year-to-date, Today is down 8 percent to an average of 5.26 million total viewers. Good Morning America, which lost Charles Gibson at about the same time that Couric left Today, is down 1 percent from last year, to 4.82 million.
In May 2005, Good Morning America got to within 45,000 viewers of its rival, but hasn’t come close to that since then. ABC is ahead of NBC in prime time, but still lags in the morning.
Related stories:
- Early Morning News Gap Shrinking
- NBC’s ‘Today’ Expected to Announce Fourth Hour
- No Big Ratings Shifts for Morning Show Change-Up
- Couric Departure Doesn’t Hurt Today
- Gibson to Anchor ABC’s ‘World News Tonight’
- Vieira to Replace Couric, NBC Prices to Soar during Couric’s Final Week
