For decades, NBC and ABC have jockeyed for the top position among morning news. NBC’s “TODAY” had a stranglehold on the No. 1 spot in the mid-90’s when it moved its program to the street-level “windows on the world” studio in New York’s Rockefeller Center. ABC’s “Good Morning America”, which had been No. 1 in the late 80’s and early 90’s with hosts Joan Lunden and Charlie Gibson, would eventually follow suit and moved to the Times Square area in Manhattan. ABC returned to No. 1 overall in the summer of 2012, albeit thanks to the slight erosion NBC saw when Ann Curry was swiftly booted off of “TODAY” with Matt Lauer being viewed as the reason for her departure.
Meanwhile, for nearly all that time, CBS has languished in third place, even to its current date. Since 1954, the network has gone through eleven distinct weekday morning news-features program formats. Among them in recent decades included “The Early Show” and “CBS This Morning”.
Its new attempt is “CBS Mornings” which launched on Sep. 7. It is hosted by former “CBS This Morning” anchors Gayle King and Tony Dokoupil alongside the newly-installed Nate Burleson. Burleson, a former NFL wide receiver and current studio analyst for CBS’ Sunday pre-game show “The NFL Today”, is no stranger to morning television; he had been co-host of NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” for the past five years. Burleson also reported on the world of entertainment as a correspondent for the syndicated newsmagazine “Extra” over the past two years.
With the Burleson hire, CBS hopes it mimics the morning news increases that ABC had experienced when it brought in former Pro Bowl defenseman Michael Strahan as “Good Morning America” co-host. In addition, CBS follows ABC in broadcasting from New York’s Times Square.
While it’s still too early to judge the success level (or lack thereof) of Burleson’s impact, CBS was able to tout one significant relative ratings achievement: it delivered the narrowest season-to-date gaps with the competition in adults 25-54 and women 25-54 dating back to 1991, when electronic records were first kept, according to Nielsen most current ratings for the first three weeks of the season.
Among adults 25-54, CBS has cut the gap with ABC by 23 percent (-285,000) and with NBC by 12 percent (-375,000).
Among women 25-54, CBS Mornings has cut the gap 27 percent (-188,000) with ABC for the season and 22 percent (-237,000) with NBC.
For the week of October 4-8, “CBS Mornings” delivered 2.49 million total viewers, 527,000 of them in the adult 25-54 demo, and 311,000 among women 25-54, according to Nielsen Media Research; its narrowest gap versus ABC in 33 weeks (week of Feb. 15) on women 25-54 (ABC: 482,000; -171,000 difference) and six weeks in the demo (ABC: 801,000; -274,000 difference).
Season-to-date (Sep. 20-Oct. 10, 2021), “GMA” (3.296 million) ranks as the No. 1 morning newscast in total viewers for the tenth consecutive year, leading NBC’s “Today” (3.177 million) and “CBS Mornings” (2.484 million); “Today” was tops in adults 25-54 (897,000), edging past “GMA” (804,000), with “CBS Mornings” a distant third (523,000).
Combined with lower viewing levels on linear television overall with a less chaotic/politically-charged news cycle (despite the current pandemic), all three broadcast network morning news programs are down from recent years. Compared to the first three weeks of last season — Sep. 21-Oct. 11, 2020, the total viewer declines were slight: ABC -4 percent, NBC -3 percent and CBS -7 percent; when it comes to the key adults 25-54 demo, though, the declines were more pronounced: ABC -16 percent, NBC -11 percent and CBS -23 percent
Here are the cable news averages for October 4-10, 2021.
Total Day (October 4-10 @ 6 a.m.-5:59 a.m.)
- Fox News Channel: 1.395 million viewers; 224,000 adults 25-54
- MSNBC: 0.691 million viewers; 83,000 adults 25-54
- CNN: 0.506 million viewers; 101,000 adults 25-54
- HLN: 0.198 million viewers; 57,000 adults 25-54
- Newsmax: 0.142 million viewers; 18,000 adults 25-54
- CNBC: 0.138 million viewers; 30,000 adults 25-54
- The Weather Channel: 0.110 million viewers; 22,000 adults 25-54
- Fox Business Network: 0.089 million viewers; 10,000 adults 25-54
Prime Time (October 4-9 @ 8-11 p.m.; October 10 @ 7-11 p.m.)
- Fox News Channel: 2.293 million viewers; 351,000 adults 25-54
- MSNBC: 1.211 million viewers; 138,000 adults 25-54
- CNN: 0.696 million viewers; 132,000 adults 25-54
- Newsmax: 0.281 million viewers; 39,000 adults 25-54
- HLN: 0.221 million viewers; 59,000 adults 25-54
- CNBC: 0.151 million viewers; 44,000 adults 25-54
- The Weather Channel: 0.126 million viewers; 26,000 adults 25-54
- Fox Business Network: 0.051 million viewers; 7,000 adults 25-54
Top 10 most-watched cable news programs (and the top MSNBC and CNN programs with their respective associated ranks) in total viewers:
1. The Five (FOXNC, Mon. 10/4/2021 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.461 million viewers
2. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Wed. 10/6/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.304 million viewers
3. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Mon. 10/4/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.195 million viewers
4. The Five (FOXNC, Wed. 10/6/2021 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.177 million viewers
5. Hannity (FOXNC, Thu. 10/7/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.153 million viewers
6. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Tue. 10/5/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.129 million viewers
7. Hannity (FOXNC, Wed. 10/6/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 2.997 million viewers
8. The Five (FOXNC, Tue. 10/5/2021 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 2.976 million viewers
9. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Thu. 10/7/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 2.895 million viewers
10. The Five (FOXNC, Thu. 10/7/2021 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 2.877 million viewers
17. Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC, Wed. 10/6/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 2.430 million viewers
141. Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN, Wed. 10/6/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.957 million viewers
Top 10 cable news programs (and the top MSNBC, CNN and HLN programs with their respective associated ranks) among adults 25-54:
1. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Tue. 10/5/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.592 million adults 25-54
2. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Mon. 10/4/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.576 million adults 25-54
3. The Five (FOXNC, Mon. 10/4/2021 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.564 million adults 25-54
4. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Wed. 10/6/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.551 million adults 25-54
5. Hannity (FOXNC, Wed. 10/6/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.490 million adults 25-54
6. The Five (FOXNC, Wed. 10/6/2021 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.476 million adults 25-54
7. The Five (FOXNC, Tue. 10/5/2021 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.469 million adults 25-54
8. Hannity (FOXNC, Tue. 10/5/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.465 million adults 25-54
9. Hannity (FOXNC, Thu. 10/7/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.464 million adults 25-54
10. The Ingraham Angle (FOXNC, Tue. 10/5/2021 10:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.453 million adults 25-54
32. Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC, Wed. 10/6/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.316 million adults 25-54
96. The Lead With Jake Tapper (CNN, Mon. 10/4/2021 4:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.197 million adults 25-54
148. Forensic Files “Filtered Out” (HLN, Fri. 10/8/2021 2:00 AM, 30 min.) 0.151 million adults 25-54
Source: Live+Same Day data, Nielsen Media Research
