“GMA” Outdrew “Today” on Tuesday by 112,000 Total Viewers

“GMA” Increases Most Among Total Viewers and Stands as Only Morning Program to Grow in Demo Season-to-Date

ABC News’ “Good Morning America” averaged 4.689 million Total Viewers and a 1.5/11/1.860 million in Adults 25-54 for the week of September 26, 2011.  For the 2nd straight week of the new season, “GMA” posted double-digit gains over the year-ago week in both Total Viewers (+12%) and Adults 25-54 (+13).  In fact, among the network morning programs, “GMA” improved the most year-to-year in Total Viewers and stood as the only newscast to increase in Adults 25-54 (NBC’s “Today” was flat and was down -2%, respectively; CBS’ “Early Show” was up by +1% and was down by -5%, respectively).

On Tuesday (9/27/11), “Good Morning America” outdrew NBC’s “Today” by 112,000 Total Viewers (4.924 million vs. 4.812 million).  In addition, “GMA” delivered its highest Adults 25-54 telecast (2.042 million) in 4 months – since 5/25/11.

“GMA” slashed its year-ago gaps with “Today” by -56% in Total Viewer (417,000 vs. 945,000) and by -34% in Adults 25-54 (495,000 vs. 746,000).  Two weeks into the new season, “GMA” substantially cut its season to date gaps in both Total Viewer (-61%) and Adults 25-54 (-37%) versus its year-ago season gaps, posting its smallest Total Viewer margin (405,000) with the NBC program in 16 years – since the 1995-96 season.

“GMA” outperformed CBS’ “Early Show” by 2.164 million Total Viewers (4.689 million vs. 2.525 million) and by 887,000 Adults 25-54 (1.860 million vs. 973,000).

Season to date, “GMA” is up the most among the network morning news programs in Total Viewers (+17%) and stands as the only morning program to grow in Adults 25-54 (+14%) versus its year-ago averages (NBC’s “Today” is up by +1% and down by -3%, respectively; CBS’ “Early Show” is down by -2% and by -5%, respectively).  “GMA” is attracting its largest overall season audience in 4 years – since the 2007-2008 season.

Emmy Award-winning “GMA,” featuring the anchor team of Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, Sam Champion, Lara Spencer and Josh Elliott, airs live Mon.-Fri. (7:00-9:00 a.m., ET) on ABC. James Goldston is senior executive producer and Tom Cibrowski is executive producer.

Week of 9/26/11             Total Viewers      Adults 25-54      Households

ABC                          4,689,000      1.5/11; 1,860,000     3.5/13

NBC                          5,106,000      2.0/15; 2,355,000     3.9/15

CBS                          2,525,000      0.8/ 6;   973,000     1.9/ 7

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 Live + SD weeks of 09/26/11, 9/19/11 & 9/27/10.  Most Current: 2011-2012 Season (9/19 – 10/2/11) and 2010-2011 Season (9/20 – 10/3/10).