"GMA" Posts Smallest Demo Gap (-104,000) with "Today" Since November 1995

"GMA" On Top 2 of Last 3 Weeks

With the Most-Watched Morning Telecast of the Week, " GMA" Wins 1st Day of May Sweep (Thursday, April 26)

ABC News' "Good Morning America" drew 5.311 million Total Viewers to rank No. 1 for the 2nd time in the last 3 weeks, for the week of April 23, 2012, according to Nielsen Media Research.   "GMA" outdrew NBC's "Today" (5.131 million) by +180,000 Total Viewers, posting an even larger margin over the NBC program than its margin 2 weeks ago (+31,000 on w/o 4/9/12).  Additionally, Goodmorningamerica.com had 14.8 million more unique users than Today.com in March.

"GMA" trailed "Today" during the week by only -104,000 Adults 25-54 (2.129 million vs. 2.233 million), representing the smallest demo gap between the two programs in over 16 years - since the week of 11/27/95.  

Season to date, "GMA" narrowed its gaps in both Total Viewers (-44%) and Adults 25-54 (-44%) versus its year-ago season gaps.  In fact "GMA" is posting its smallest Total Viewer (452,000) and Adults 25-54 (419,000) margins with "Today" in 16 years - since the 1995-96 Season.

"GMA" grew over the previous week (5.010 million and 1.940 million on w/o 4/16/12) by +6% in Total Viewers and by +10% in Adults 25-54 to hit 8-week highs (best since w/o 2/27/12), delivering the program's 2nd strongest performance of the season in both Nielsen measures.  NBC's "Today" posted losses (-2%/-4%) week to week.

"GMA" ranked No. 1 on 3 of 5 days of the week: Tuesday ( +415,000 - 5.302 million vs. 4.887 million), Wednesday ( +307,000 - 5.209 million vs. 4.902 million) and Thursday ( +302,000 - 5.515 million vs. 5.213 million).  This marks the first time in over 16 years that GMA has won, beating "Today," on at least 3 days during the course of a week - since w/o 12/4/95.  Further, in topping "Today" on Thursday with the most-watched network morning telecast of the week, "GMA" beat the NBC program on the opening day of the 2012 May Sweep.

Additionally, "GMA" ranked No. 1 in the key adult news demo on Tuesday (4/24/12) by +76,000 (2.154 million vs. 2.078 million). This represents the first "GMA" single-day win in the demo in nearly 4 years - since 7/18/08 (excluding specials). 

Impressively, "GMA" retained 99% of its year-ago week performance in Adults 25-54 (2.129 million vs. 2.160 million - w/o 4/25/11), which included "GMA's" coverage of the Royal Wedding.  

Season to date "GMA" is the only morning program to grow in Total Viewers (+4%) and Adults 25-54 (+8%) versus its year-ago averages (NBC's "Today:" -3%/-8%, respectively; CBS' "This Morning:" -9%/-10%, respectively). "GMA" is seeing its largest overall season audience in 6 years, since 2005-06.

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 Live + SD weeks of 4/23/12, 4/16/12 & 4/25/11.  Most Current:  2011-2012 Season (9/19/11 - 4/29/12) and 2010-2011 Season (9/20/10 - 5/1/11).  

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. Tom Cibrowski is senior executive producer.

- ABC -