‘Today’ Show Season Tops ‘GMA’ in Key-Demo Ratings for First Time in 4 Years

“Good Morning America” claims most total viewers for fourth straight full cycle, however

Today

NBC’s “Today” show has officially topped “Good Morning America” in the key 25-54 demographic for the full 12-month broadcast season, the first time it can make that claim in four years.

“GMA,” however, still beat “Today” among total viewers, the fourth year in a row that’s happened. So, there are some bragging rights to go around, but that won’t sour Matt Lauer’s party.

As usual, “CBS This Morning” finished a distant third to its lighter-hearted competition.

Here’s how the broadcast morning shows stacked up in the main demo for 2015-16, per Nielsen’s “most current” metric, which includes seven days of delayed viewing, where available (not like many people DVR morning shows, but still):
1. “Today”: 1.5 rating
2. “GMA”: 1.3 rating
3. “CBS This Morning”: 0.9 rating

And here’s how they rank among overall audience members, on average:
1. “GMA”: 4.738 million
2. “Today”: 4.589 million
3. “CBS This Morning”: 3.580 million.

“Good Morning America” won 48 of the year’s 52 weeks in total viewers.

Meanwhile, much later in the day, NBC’s “Nightly News” just closed the books on its 20th straight full-season ratings win. That program averaged 8.57 million total viewers for the season, compared to 7.67 million for ABC’s “World News Tonight” and 6.31 million for CBS’ “Evening News.”

Yes, that’s another last-place finish for a CBS news program.

We’ve got some good news for the good people over there, however — the network won the daytime daypart yet again, marking a remarkable 30 straight years at the top of those hours.

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