A little more than a year ago, “Today” said goodbye to co-host Ann Curry.
NBC’s morning show also appears to have said goodbye to a significant chunk of its viewership in the time since it bid adieu to Curry.
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July 9 marked the first anniversary of Savannah Guthrie replacing Ann Curry on “Today,” and the numbers suggest that the change hasn’t been kind to the show, which has been losing ground to ABC counterpart “Good Morning America” lately.
In the period between July 9, 2012 and July 8, 2013, “Today” averaged 4.647 million total viewers from 7 to 9 a.m., — a drop of about 606,000 from the 5.253 million that the show averaged in the first year of Ann Curry’s tenure as a co-host, following her June 9, 2011 premiere.
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In the key 25-54 news demo, “Today” also dropped, from an average 2.321 million viewers during Curry’s first year to 1.908 million in Guthrie’s first year.
The good news for Guthrie? The week of July 8, which marked the first anniversary of her tenure, saw a slight improvement over her first week in total viewers and the demo. In total viewers, the week of July 8 had 4.4 million total viewers, compared to 4.2 million total viewers. In the demo, “Today” posted grabbed 1.8 viewers for the week of July 8, compared to 1.7 million for Guthrie’s maiden week
In fairness, the Curry era suffered a similar slump in its first year compared to that of her predecessor. From Sept. 13, 2006 to Sept. 12, 2007 — the first year of Meredith Vieira’s co-host run — “Today” averaged 5.461 million total viewers, with 2.607 in the demo.
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Vieira, meanwhile, is preparing to launch her own daytime offering. “The Meredith Vieira Show,” from NBCUniversal Domestic Television, will premiere as a syndicated show in fall 2014.