NBC's TODAY Continues to Gain Momentum

By: Caryn Robbins Dec. 19, 2013

NBC's TODAY continues to gain momentum and has posted daily ratings wins. TODAY won in both total viewers and the key demo A25-54 yesterday, Wednesday, December 18, according to preliminary Nielsen data. This marks the first time TODAY has won outright since Wednesday, June 26, 2013.

For the week of December 9, TODAY beat GMA in the demo on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and posted its narrowest demo gap with GMA since October, just 5k between the two shows. Season-to-date, TODAY has posted the largest year-to-year growth of the morning programs in the key demo A25-54. TODAY also posted its narrowest total viewer gap with GMA (just 540k) in more than four months, since the week of 7/22/2013.

TODAY Highlight for Wednesday, December 18:

· According to preliminary Nielsen data, TODAY won the day outright in both total viewers and the key demo.

· According to preliminary Nielsen data, TODAY posted 2.227 million Adults 25-54 (a 1.9 rating)
· +135k ahead of GMA, +1 tenth of a ratings point (1.8)
· +856k ahead of CBS, +7 tenths of a ratings point (1.2)

· According to preliminary Nielsen data, TODAY averaged 5.111 million in total viewers
· +85k ahead of GMA
· +1.7 mil ahead of CBS

· This marks the first time TODAY has won in both total viewers and the key demo since Wednesday June 26, 2013,
· On 6/26/13, TODAY topped GMA by 178k total viewers and 173k Adults 25-54.

TODAY Highlights for the Week of December 9:

· TODAY posted its narrowest key demo gap with GMA since the week of 10/28/2013-only 5k between the two shows.
· TODAY had its 5th straight week of a shrinking demo gap; TODAY has been within less than 100k with GMA for 5 straight weeks and 12 of the last 14 weeks.
· TODAY beat GMA in the demo on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
· TODAY's A25-54 demo delivery grew for the 9th straight week, posting its best average since the week of 8/6/2012 (week #2 of London Olympics)
· Just 540k separated TODAY and GMA in total viewers for the week, lowest total viewer deficit to GMA since the week of 7/22/2013
· TODAY posted the largest A18-49 rating growth versus the same week last season (up +4 tenths)
· Season-to-date, 63k A25-54 viewers separate TODAY and GMA versus a 102k during the same period last year
· TODAY has posted the largest delivery gains of the morning programs versus the same period last season in rating among key M/W 18-49 and 25-54 demos.

Numerical Ratings for Week of December 9:

NET HH HH Pers 2+ RTG A25-54 A25-54 000s

NBC 3.9 14 5460 2.0 2347

CBS 2.4 8 3195 0.9 1095

ABC 4.5 16 6000 2.0 2352