If there have been a period wherein NBC’s “Today” would cede its recent lead in overall viewership to ABC’s “Good Morning America,” it must have been last week.
ABC’s telecast of the 2026 NBA Finals last week between the Recent York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs was the most-watched in 28 years, in response to Nielsen, reaching a mean of about 20.6 million viewers on ABC and ESPN. But even the Knicks’ inspiring comebacks in two of the games to take the crown couldn’t help ABC’s morning show, which might typically profit more noticeably from a giant spectacle being on the network.
NBC’s “Today” captured a mean of three.06 million for the five days ended June 12, in response to Nielsen, compared with 2.87 million for “GMA” and 1.65 million for “CBS Mornings.” The NBC morning show was also capable of capture 682,000 viewers between the ages of 25 and 54 — the demographic coveted most by advertisers in news programs — compared with 486,000 for “GMA” and 264,000 for the CBS A.M. show.
The general audience number is one among the bottom for “CBS Mornings” in recent memory, in response to Nielsen. Indeed, last week’s viewer activity marked the twenty sixth consecutive week that “Today” has won greater than 1 million viewers over its CBS rival — its longest streak since May of 2015.
The NBA Finals did enhance “Good Morning America.” The show’s audience last week rose 6%, or 167,000 viewers, over the week prior. But “Today” enjoyed a lift of three%, or 91,000 viewers, to keep up its position. “CBS Mornings” ceded 47,000 viewers in comparison with the prior week, in response to Nielsen data.
Big sporting events often lend a halo to other parts of the network on which they seem — and once they don’t, it could be cause for concern. In 2022, for instance, “GMA” won more viewers overall during NBC’s first week of coverage of the Winter Olympics from Beijing, the primary time it had done so in greater than three a long time, in response to data from Nielsen. While “Today” continued to steer within the critical audience demographic of individuals between 25 and 54, it was by just 4,000 people. “GMA” had not won the rankings gold medal through the Olympics as much as that point for the reason that week of February 7, 1992, in response to historical Nielsen data.