Morning Show Ratings

NBC's "Today" show maintained its strong lead over ABC's "Good Morning America" and CBS' "The Early Show." "Today" was the only morning show that was up week-to-week in total viewers.

Last Monday, "Today" drew 6.35M total viewers, the largest single-day average for the show since January. "Today" has posted its strongest start against the competition since the 2002-2003 season.

The averages from last week:

Total Viewers: NBC: 5.89M / ABC: 4.45M / CBS: 2.80M

A25-54 rating: NBC: 2.0 / ABC: 1.4 / CBS: 0.9

All three morning shows showed week-to-week Total Viewer growth last week, which often happens after daylight saving time begins. NBC's "Today" show was in first by 1.25 million Total Viewers, up 156K week-to-week. ABC's "Good Morning America" grew 290K and CBS' "Early Show" was up 190K week-to-week.

Last week, Rihanna appeared in a heavily publicized two-part interview for "GMA," though that appearance had little effect on the first-place gap, which was 1.4M (Thursday) and 1.2M (Friday), roughly the same as the previous week.

The averages from last week:

Total Viewers: NBC: 5.72M / ABC: 4.47M / CBS: 2.82M

A25-54 rating: NBC: 2.0 / ABC: 1.4 / CBS: 0.9

Last week, NBC's "Today" made it 725 consecutive weeks as the highest rated morning show in Total Viewers. The program drew its biggest audience since May. Both "Today" and "Good Morning America" were up week-to-week.

The averages from last week:

Total Viewers: NBC: 5.56M / ABC: 4.18M / CBS: 2.63M

A25-54 rating: NBC: 2.1 / ABC: 1.4 / CBS: 0.9

NBC's "Today" remained atop the morning shows by a 1.33 million Total Viewer margin last week. "Good Morning America" was up the most week-to-week in Total Viewers (+110k).

If NBC also wins this week, "Today" will have won 725 consecutive weeks in Total Viewers.

The averages from last week:

Total Viewers: NBC: 5.45M / ABC: 4.12M / CBS: 2.74M

A25-54 demo: NBC: 2.57M / ABC: 1.72M / CBS: 1.15M

NBC's "Today" maintained its 1.5M Total Viewer lead over ABC's "Good Morning America," its largest since 2006. Week-to-week, Total Viewer numbers remained almost the same for the three programs and the A25-54 demo numbers also saw little movement.

The averages from last week:

Total Viewers: NBC: 5.5M / ABC: 4.0M / CBS: 2.8M

A25-54 rating: NBC: 2.1 / ABC: 1.3 / CBS: 0.9

Last Saturday, "Good Morning America Saturday" was the top morning show in both Total Viewers with 3.04M and the A24-54 demographic with 1.28M. The program saw a 24% increase in Total Viewers and 17% in the demo year-to-year.

CBS's "Early Show" Saturday Edition had its largest audience since February (2.03M) and also saw sizable year-to-year gains, up 28% in Total Viewers and and 40% in A25-54.

NBC's "Saturday Today" drew 2.76M Total Viewers and 1.13M in the demo. Note: The "Saturday Today" broadcast was preempted for a full hour last week.

With its best week since May, NBC's "Today" show solidly held first place among the morning shows last week and gained nearly 300K Total Viewers week-to-week. ABC's "Good Morning America" and CBS' "Early Show" maintained roughly the same total audience from the previous week.

The averages from last week:

Total Viewers: NBC: 5.5M / ABC: 4.0M / CBS: 2.7M

A25-54 rating: NBC: 2.0 / ABC: 1.4 / CBS: 0.9

Bonus: "Early Show" Weather anchor Dave Price, shaved off his "No Way Home" beard a half-hour at a time today.

NBC's "Today" show maintained its first place spot after the previous week's strong performance, but ABC's "Good Morning America" was the only one of the morning programs to show Total Viewer growth week-to-week. "GMA" also had its best A25-54 demo average since May.

The averages from last week:

Total Viewers: NBC: 5.21M / ABC: 4.10M / CBS: 2.68M

A25-54 demo: NBC: 2.35M / ABC: 1.73M / CBS: 1.10M

In the first week of the new season, NBC's "Today" handily won the week in both Total Viewers and A25-54 Viewers with its largest audience averages in both categories since early June. (You can see the ratings for last season here.)

The averages from last week:

Total Viewers: NBC: 5.26M / ABC: 3.86M / CBS: 2.64M

A25-54 demo: NBC: 2.39M / ABC: 1.65M / CBS: 1.07M

NBC's "Today" topped the morning shows for the 2008-2009 season. NBC had its best Total Viewer gap over "Good Morning America" in five years.

Last week, "Today" had its most Total Viewers since June. Both GMA and "Early Show" also saw week-to-week increases.

Here are the season averages:

And last week's averages: