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If there were a period in which NBC’s “Today” would cede its recent lead in overall viewership to ABC’s “Good Morning America,” it should have been last week.
ABC’s telecast of the 2026 NBA Finals last week between the New
York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs was the most-watched in 28 years, according to Nielsen, reaching an average 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 would typically benefit more noticeably from a big spectacle being on the network.
NBC’s “Today” captured an average of 3.06 million for the five days ended June 12, according to Nielsen, compared with 2.87 million for “GMA” and 1.65 million for “CBS Mornings.” The NBC morning show was also able to 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 overall audience number is one of the lowest for “CBS Mornings” in recent memory, according to Nielsen. Indeed, last week’s viewer activity marked the 26th consecutive week that “Today” has won more than 1 million viewers over its CBS rival — its longest streak since May of 2015.
The NBA Finals did give a boost to “Good Morning America.” The show’s audience last week rose 6%, or 167,000 viewers, over the week prior. But “Today” enjoyed a boost of 3%, or 91,000 viewers, to maintain its position. “CBS Mornings” ceded 47,000 viewers compared to the prior week, according to Nielsen data.
Big sporting events often lend a halo to other parts of the network on which they appear — and when they do not, it can be cause for concern. In 2022, for example, “GMA” won more viewers overall during NBC’s first week of coverage of the Winter Olympics from Beijing, the first time it had done so in more than three decades, according to data from Nielsen. While “Today” continued to lead in the critical audience demographic of people between 25 and 54, it was by just 4,000 people. “GMA” had not won the ratings gold medal during the Olympics up to that time since the week of February 7, 1992, according to historical Nielsen data.
