TODAY TOPS GMA FOR 73 STRAIGHT MONTHS IN DEMO

TODAY Wins 73 Consecutive Months in Key Demo

TODAY Grows Across the Board Month Over Month and Week Over Week 

TODAY Is Only Morning Program to Grow in Total Viewers and Key Demo Versus Prior Week

TODAY Posts 22-Week High in Key Demo, Quadruples Demo Lead Versus Last Year 

NEW YORK – September 28, 2021 –  NBC News’ TODAY was the number-one morning show in the key demo for the month of September, topping ABC’s “Good Morning America” for 73 straight months. The win marks 312 out of 317 weeks in first place. TODAY was the only morning program to grow in total viewers and the key demo last month. 

Last week, TODAY delivered a 22-week high in its key demo advantage over GMA and quadrupled its lead year over year. Additionally, TODAY was the only morning program to grow in total viewers and the key demo and added more total viewers than GMA and CBS combined. 

TODAY Digital had its strongest week since early August with 13.4 million unique visitors last week and have reached more than 50 million unique visitors for nine of the last ten months.

TODAY HIGHLIGHTS: 

SEPTEMBER 2021

Among A25-54 viewers:

  • TODAY averaged 918,000 A25-54 viewers, outperforming GMA by +83,000 (+10%) and CBS This Morning by +404,000 (+79%)
  • Versus prior month, TODAY increased its demo viewership by +10,000 (+1%). 
  • TODAY’s A25-54 lead over GMA was 15% higher than September 2020 (+83,000 vs. +72,000 prior year). 

Among A18-49 viewers:

  • TODAY averaged 668,000 A18-49 viewers, leading GMA by +107,000 (+19%) and CBS by +304,000 (+84%)
  • TODAY increased by +26,000 A18-49 viewers (+4%) over August levels. 
  • Compared to September 2020, TODAY improved its A18-49 lead over GMA by 7% (+107,000 vs. +100,000 prior year).  

Among total viewers:

  • TODAY averaged 3.255 million total viewers, leading CBS by +755,000 (+30%)
  • TODAY’s total viewership hit a six-month high, its best since March 2021
  • Month-over-month, TODAY increased its total viewership by +49,000 (+2%).  
  • Versus September 2020, TODAY reduced the total viewer gap against GMA by 46% (-82,000 vs. -152,000 prior year). 

TODAY Digital has reached more than 50M unique visitors for nine of the last ten months

  • TODAY also continues to rank among the top 10 entities in the Lifestyle category for video views and minutes and ranks among the top 5 entities for video viewers
  • TODAY All Day has had its three strongest months on record in July, August & September 2021 thanks to expanded distribution and new programming

WEEK of SEPTEMBER 20-26, 2021

TODAY averaged 906,000 A25-54 viewers, leading GMA by +128,000 (+16%) and CBS Mornings by +408,000 (+82%)

  • TODAY has ranked #1 among A25-54 viewers for 312 of the last 317 weeks
  • Compared to the same week last season, TODAY’s demo lead over GMA was four times higher (+128,000 vs. +32,000 prior year).
  • Week-over-week, TODAY was the only morning show to increase its demo audience (+59,000, or +7%) while widening its advantage over GMA by over 300% (+128,000 vs. +31,000 prior week) and CBS by 19% (+408,000 vs. +342,000 prior week).  

TODAY averaged 662,000 A18-49 viewers, leading GMA by +139,000 (+26%) and CBS by +302,000 (+84%)

  • TODAY increased its A18-49 lead over GMA by 81% compared to the same week last season (+139,000 vs. +77,000 prior year).
  • Compared to prior week, TODAY posted the biggest increase in A18-49 viewers (+54,000, or +9%), more than doubled its lead over GMA (+139,000 vs. +56,000 prior week) and increased its advantage over CBS by 17% (+302,000 vs. +258,000 prior week).  

TODAY averaged 3.251 million total viewers, +840,000 (+35%) higher than CBS

  • Excluding the Tokyo Olympics, TODAY posted its biggest total viewer advantage over CBS since the week of 11/23/2020 (Thanksgiving Week)
  • Compared to the same week last season, TODAY’s total viewer gap vs. GMA narrowed by 56% (-64,000 vs. -147,000 prior year) while its lead over CBS improved by 9% (+840,000 vs. +774,000 prior year). 
  • Week-over-week, TODAY posted higher total viewer growth (+193,000, or +6%) than GMA and CBS combined.  TODAY also closed the total viewer gap with GMA by 69% vs. prior week (-64,000 vs. -207,000 prior week) and increased its lead over CBS by 28% (+840,000 vs. +654,000 prior week).  

TODAY had its strongest week since early August with 13.4M unique visitors last week (15% WoW, 15% YoY)

  • TODAY All Day delivered a record 173K hours viewed (83% WoW) and 1.8M video view (53% WoW) thanks to the addition of Samsung TV data
    • All Day launched on Samsung in late August, but we just started receiving data 8/25
  • TODAY podcasts also had their strongest week on record with 356K downloads ( 102% vs. prior 13-week avg.) thanks to the addition of “Making Space with Hoda Kotb”
  • TODAY newsletters garnered 241K visits (11% vs.13-week average) 
    • These newsletters had an average click-thru rate of 13% and an open rate of 25%