TODAY Posts Its Largest Key Demo Win Over GMA Since the London Olympics

TODAY Has Been the #1 Morning Show in the Key Demo 19 out of the Last 20 Weeks

TODAY Posts Its Closest Non-Holiday Total Viewer Gap with GMA Since the Sochi Olympics

TODAY Has Cut the Total Viewer Gap with GMA in Half Vs. the Same Period Last Season

GMA Is the Only Morning Show Down Double Digits In Both the Key Demo and Total Viewers for the Season

Season to Date, TODAY Is the #1 Morning Show in Both A25-54 and A18-49

NEW YORK – January 22, 2016 – TODAY scored big in the ratings last week with back-to-back broadcasts in Los Angeles for the Golden Globes, and in Washington, DC from inside the White House. TODAY posted its largest key demo win since the London Olympics in 2012 marking its 19th weekly victory in 20 weeks. TODAY also posted its narrowest total viewer margin with GMA since its Sochi Olympics wins in 2014.  TODAY continues the number-one morning show in both A25-54 and A18-49 for the season.

For the week of January 11, TODAY topped GMA by a giant 257k in A25-54 and by 268k in A18-49. TODAY has won every day of the 2016 calendar year in the demo.  TODAY’s total viewer gap with GMA was just 129k, and has been within 300k for 9 of the last 11 weeks.

Season to date, TODAY has radically cut its total viewer gap with GMA by 51% (a whopping 317k) versus the same period last season. GMA is the only morning show down double digits, suffering an 18% loss in the key demo and a 10% loss in total viewers, season to date.

*Please note: As of 12/28/15, Nielsen national ratings are based on an expanded sample known as “NPX,” which effectively doubles the size of the Nielsen panel through a combination of additional meters and HHs. While NPX is now the official currency of record, all data pre-12/28/15 remains based on the old sample — so year-to-year and other comparisons are versus pre-NPX data.

TODAY HIGHLIGHTS: 

Week of January 11

TODAY averaged 1.969 million A25-54 viewers, leading GMA by +257,000 (+15%) and CBS This Morning by +816,000 (+71%)

• This was TODAY’s third straight #1 finish among A25-54 viewers and its 19th victory in the last 20 weeks
• TODAY posted its largest A25-54 audience in eight weeks (since the week of 11/16/2015) and its biggest demo margin over GMA since the London Olympics (week of 8/6/2012)
• TODAY delivered a 1.66 A25-54 rating, +0.22 points more than GMA and +0.69 points ahead of CBS

TODAY averaged 1.526 million A18-49 viewers, +268,000 (+21%) over GMA and +693,000 (+83%) more than CBS

• TODAY had its best A18-49 delivery and advantages over both ABC and CBS since the week of 11/16/2015
• TODAY’s 1.20 A18-49 rating led GMA by +0.21 points and CBS by +0.54 points

TODAY averaged 4.950 million total viewers, outperforming CBS by +1.123 million (+29%)

• TODAY trailed GMA by just -129,000 viewers, its closest margin since Christmas Week in 2014 (12/22/2014).  Excluding that holiday week, it was the closest gap since TODAY’s wins during the Sochi Olympics (week of 2/17/2014)
• TODAY has finished within 300,000 total viewers of GMA in 9 of the last 11 weeks
• TODAY held its widest total viewer margin over CBS in four weeks
• TODAY was the only morning news program to increase in total viewers week-to-week

Season-to-date, TODAY is the #1 morning news show among A25-54 and A18-49 viewers

• TODAY averages 1.799 million A25-54 viewers, leading GMA by +7% (+122,000) and CBS by +74% (+762,000).  TODAY’s A25-54 advantage over GMA represents a 289,000 viewer turnaround from a -167,000 deficit at this point last season.
• In A18-49, TODAY averages 1.357 million and tops GMA by +17% (+198,000) and CBS by +85% (+625,000).  TODAY’s A18-49 lead versus GMA is a 197,000 viewer improvement from last season’s +1,000 lead.
• Among total viewers, the gap between TODAY and GMA is 51% narrower vs. last season (-306,000 season-to-date versus a -623,000 deficit at this time last season).

GMA is the only morning show down double digits in both the key demo and total viewers for the season.

• GMA is down -18% in A25-54 and -10% in total viewers for the season

Compared to the same week last season, TODAY was up across-the-board in total viewers (+2%, or +78,000), A25-54 viewers (+5%, or +100,000), and A18-49 viewers (+6%, or +86,000)

• The total viewer gap between TODAY and GMA was 73% closer (-129,000 last week vs. -476,000 a year ago)
• Among A25-54, TODAY posted a 399,000 viewer turnaround in its gap vs. GMA (+257,000 win last week vs. a -142,000 loss a year ago)
• Among A18-49, TODAY’s lead over GMA was 931% higher (+268,000 win last week vs. +26,000 a year ago)
• GMA was down -5% in total viewers and -15% among A25-54 year-over -year

TODAY was the only morning news program to post any week-to-week increases in total viewers (+3%, or +145,000), A25-54 viewers (+5%, or +88,000), and A18-49 viewers (+6%, or +86,000)

• The total viewer gap was 56% narrower than the prior week (-129,000 last week vs. -290,000 two weeks ago)
• TODAY drew higher advantages over GMA in both A25-54 (by 86%) and A18-49 (by 85%) week-to-week

Versus the first two weeks of 1Q’16, TODAY had the biggest gains in total viewers (+7%, or +313,000), A25-54 viewers (+11%, or +189,000), and A18-49 viewers (+15%, or +203,000)

RATINGS DATA:

Show Name	HH Rtg	HH Shr	P2+ Imps	P18-49 Rtg	P18-49 Imps	P25-54 Rtg	P25-54 Imps
TODAY	3.59	14	4,950	1.20	1,526	1.66	1,969
CBS THIS MORNING	2.74	10	3,827	0.66	833	0.97	1,153
GOOD MORNING AMERICA	3.73	14	5,079	0.99	1,258	1.44	1,712

TODAY.COM HIGHLIGHTS:

For the 19th straight month, Today.com reached more consumers than GMA on Yahoo.  Almost 37.0 million unique visitors turned to Today.com in December for exclusive interviews and the latest lifestyle, parenting and entertainment news, according to recent data from comScore.  For 25 consecutive months (34 out of the last 35), Today.com has reached more mobile consumers than GMA on Yahoo.

Today.com’s mobile unique visitors have grown +22% over the last 12 months while GMA on Yahoo has grown +60% for the same period. As such,Today.com has gone from parity in mobile unique visitors in September 2013 to over 3x GMA on Yahoo’s mobile visitor number in December 2015.

TODAY also continues to top GMA’s fan base on Facebook with 4.9 million fans for TODAY versus 4.7 million for GMA, as of December 2015.

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NBC’s TODAY is the news program that informs, entertains, inspires and sets the agenda each morning for Americans. Airing live from 7 am to 11 am ET, TODAY reaches more than 5 million people every day through its broadcast, and millions more through TODAY.com, the TODAY app, and social media platforms. Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker, Natalie Morales, Willie Geist, Tamron Hall, Carson Daly, Hoda Kotb, and Kathie Lee Gifford are the anchors and hosts, Noah Oppenheim is the SVP and Executive in Charge, and Don Nash is the executive producer.

 

For more information contact:

Megan Kopf Stackhouse
NBC News
e: megan.kopf@nbcuni.com

p: 212-664-6205

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