‘GMA’ Without Josh Elliott Scores Highest Ratings in Four Weeks

The ABC morning show scores some of its best ratings in the wake of Elliott’s recent departure

GMA

No Josh Elliott, no problem.

ABC’s “Good Morning America” earned its best ratings in four weeks immediately following the departure of former host Elliott.

“GMA” ranked No. 1 in total viewers (5.8 million) and in the advertiser-sought 25-54 demo (2.3 million) for the week of March 31, 2014, according to Nielsen Media Research. Elliott announced his departure the day before the week began.

Also read: James Goldston, Ben Sherwood on ABC News, ‘GMA’ Shakeup: ‘We Need to Play Like Underdogs’

The above numbers bested NBC’s “Today” show by 715,000 total viewers and by 165,000 in the key morning news demo. In the process, “GMA” increased its leads over the closest competitor compared to its year-ago leads in both measures, which pulled in 702,000 and 63,000 viewers, respectively.

The ABC News property saw increases over the previous week (5.8 million and 2.3 million, respectively), hitting the aforementioned four-week highs in both measures.

Of course, the numbers don’t suggest that people prefer the show without NBC’s newest hire. Some of the increased interest may have been to see how the No. 1 morning program handled Elliott’s goodbye, which the show did on Thursday, April 3.

Also read: ESPN Host Tony Reali Re-Ups, Named ‘GMA’ Social Media Contributor

“GMA” contributor Amy Robach was tapped to replace Elliott following his departure. On April 1, Michael Strahan was named as another incoming host for on the morning show.

Still more “Good Morning America” shake-ups happened Thursday.

ESPN host Tony Reali was named social contributor for the program and James Goldston was tapped as Ben Sherwood’s replacement atop ABC’s news division.

Sherwood will officially take over for Anne Sweeney as chairman of Disney Media Networks in February.

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