NBC’s “Today” may have lost its lead during the week, but the show’s weekend broadcasts are still hanging on to a small lead over the weekend editions of ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

In the fourth quarter of 2012, “Today” had a slight Total Viewer lead on Saturdays, edging “GMA” by +62,000 for the top spot. The two shows are tied in the A25-54 demographic for the quarter.

On Sundays, NBC leads ABC by +34,000 Total Viewers and +22,000 A25-54 viewers, but ratings stalwart “CBS Sunday Morning” has a commanding lead over both “Today” and “GMA.”

The Saturday averages for Q4 2012:

• Total Viewers: NBC: 3.587M / ABC: 3.525M / CBS: 1.769M

• A25-54 viewers: NBC: 1.233M / ABC: 1.233M / CBS: 641K

The Sunday averages for Q4 2012:

• Total Viewers: CBS: 5.505M / NBC: 3.185M / ABC: 3.151M

• A25-54 viewers: CBS: 1.734M / NBC: 1.054M / ABC: 1.032M

As ABC’s “Good Morning America” widens the lead over NBC’s “Today,” the show celebrates a new milestone. Last weekend, for the first time since the show expanded to include both weekend days in 2004, both the Saturday and Sunday editions of “GMA” beat the corresponding editions of “Today.”

“GMA” topped “Today” on Saturday and Sunday in both ratings measurements, coming in first on Saturday and second, behind ratings stalwart “CBS Sunday Morning,” on Sunday. On Saturday, “GMA” won by +300,000 Total Viewers and +100,000 A25-54 viewers. On Sunday, during “Today’”s celebration of the weekend show’s 25th anniversary, “GMA” won by +140,000 Total Viewers and +38,000 A25-54 viewers.

“We have a small, scrappy, happy team and it’s nice to do well,” weekend “GMA” anchor Dan Harris told TVNewser this week. “We definitely respect our competitors and don’t take anything for granted.”

Numbers for Saturday, September 15:

• Total Viewers: ABC: 3.42M / NBC: 3.12M / CBS: 1.59M

• A25-54 viewers: ABC: 1.19M / NBC: 1.09M / CBS: 517K

Numbers for Sunday, September 16: Read more

The February sweeps period has come to a close. Among the weekend morning shows, as usual, NBC’s “Today” won on Saturday and “CBS Sunday Morning” won on Sunday.

On Saturday, “Today” is followed by “GMA” in second and “CBS This Morning” in third. Like the shows’ weekday counterparts, the battle between “Today” and “GMA” is increasingly competitive on Saturday mornings. For this ratings period, the two shows are separated by the smallest-ever gap during a February sweep.

Among the Sunday morning shows, “CBS Sunday Morning” continues to hold a dominant lead over the competition. In Total Viewers, “Sunday Morning” outperformed second-place NBC by 1.81 million and third-place ABC by 2.44 million during February sweeps. Margins are smaller, but still significant, in the A25-54 demographic, with CBS beating NBC by 310,000 and ABC by 610,000.

The Saturday averages for February 2012 sweeps:

• Total Viewers: NBC: 3.81M / ABC: 3.54M / CBS: 1.88M

• A25-54 viewers: NBC: 1.38M / ABC: 1.31M / CBS: 684K

The Sunday averages for February 2012 sweeps:

• Total Viewers: CBS: 5.58M / NBC: 3.77M / ABC: 3.14M

• A25-54 viewers: CBS: 1.79M / NBC: 1.48M / ABC: 1.18M

It has been a solid Q3 2011, as well as a solid 2010-11 season for the weekend network morning shows. Compared to the third quarter of last year, both editions of NBC’s “Today,” both editions of ABC’s “Good Morning America,” CBS’ “Saturday Early Show” and CBS’ “Sunday Morning” all experienced total viewer growth.

NBC’s “Today” is #1 on Saturday while CBS’ “Sunday Morning” takes the top spot on Sundays. ABC’s “Good Morning America” posted the largest total viewer growth compared — +12% on Saturday and +24% on Sunday.

It’s a similar story for the 2010-11 season. NBC’s “Today” finishes #1 on Saturdays and CBS’ “Sunday Morning” is #1 on Sundays. Both shows enjoy a large total viewer separation from their closest competitor: on Saturdays, NBC bested ABC by 960,000 total viewers and on Sundays, CBS outperforms NBC by 1.41 million viewers, drawing the largest audience of any edition of the weekend morning shows.

The averages for Saturday Q3 2011:

• Total Viewers: NBC: 3.61M / ABC: 2.95M / CBS: 1.62M

• A25-54 viewers: NBC: 1.36M / ABC: 1.08M / CBS: 575K

The averages for Sunday Q3 2011:

• Total Viewers: CBS: 4.51M / NBC: 3.35M / ABC: 2.96M

• A25-54 viewers: CBS: 1.44M /NBC: 1.28M / ABC: 1.08M

The averages for the Saturday 2010-11 Season:

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