‘Today’ Outmaneuvers ‘GMA’ in Critical Viewership After Weeks of Ceding Ground

variety.com:

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorNever count out “Today” in the morning show wars.The venerable NBC A.M. franchise has for weeks been losing a critical ratings category to its main rival, ABC’s “Good Morning America.” The ABC show has long been the most-watched broadcast-TV morning-news program in the nation, while “Today” typically dominates among the viewers advertisers want most — people between 25 and 54.

But for more than two months, that hasn’t been the case; “GMA” has taken the lead in both overall viewership and the ad demo.Last week put the brakes on ABC’s progress.

According to Nielsen, “Today” won more viewers between 25 and 54 than its ABC competitor, albeit during a stretch leading into the long holiday weekend when all three broadcast networks “retitled” their Friday programs so what were presumably lower-than-usual audience levels wouldn’t be lumped in with the rest of the week’s crowd.

For the four days ended June 30,”Today” lured an average of 656,000 viewers between 25 and 54, according to Nielsen, compared with 625,000 for “GMA” and 458,000 for “CBS Mornings.” Meanwhile, “GMA” attracted an overall audience of nearly 2.89 million, compared with nearly 2.65 million for “Today” and 2.25 million for CBS.Next week may prove crucial in the ratings race.