It is the nature of linear television where year-to-year erosion of viewership is commonplace, as an increasing amount of options that vie to occupy our time become available. But that isn’t the case for programs like NBC News Daily.
Four distinct daytime programs on the broadcast networks exhibit these current trends but with varied ratings tracks.
ABC’s The View has remarkably remained steady in total audience. From Apr. 15 through June 14, but not counting its rerun week of Apr. 22-26 nor its days surrounding Memorial Day weekend, the long-running talker averaged 2.23 million total viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research — its year-ago period (Apr. 24-June 16, 2023) drew 2.22 million.
However, its demographics tell a different story, one that’s indicative of the accelerating aging shift where audiences are skewing older. Among women 25-54, The View posted a 0.3 rating (note: a 1.0 rating equates to approximately 615,900 female viewers from ages 25 through 54). That marks a 25 percent decrease from its year-ago performance in females 25-54 (0.4 rating).
It was a similar demo story for another ABC program, GMA3: What You Need to Know — based on the same aforementioned periods, down 24 percent in women 25-54 (0.22 rating in 2024 vs. 0.29 in 2023). In terms of total viewers, the third hour of Good Morning America is off by ten percent (1.29 million vs. 1.43 million).
NBC News Daily, installed on NBC affiliates following the network’s 2022 move of longtime soap opera Days of Our Lives to its Peacock streaming service, still brings up the rear among network daytime shows, as it averages 1.1 million viewers. But that actually represents a year-to-year increase of 7 percent (from 1.03 million). And although its 0.22 F25-54 rating is down one percent (from a 0.23), NBC News Daily outperforms GMA3 within the demo, by mere decimal points (0.225 vs. 0.220).
Year-over-year demo decreases for The Talk, CBS’ answer to The View since 2010, have not been as steep in comparison to ABC’s fare: down 12 percent in F25-54 (0.26 vs. 0.29). But what may be a sign of waning interest as it heads towards the December 2024 conclusion of its production, it’s also down 15 percent in total viewers (1.22 million vs. 1.43 million).
The Talk of last year’s second quarter was only factored through May 12, 2023 as it went on hiatus due to the Hollywood writers’ strike. For its rerun week of June 12-16, 2023, it averaged 1.243 million viewers; in original editions for June 10-14, 2024, it delivered 5 percent less, having averaged 1.187 million viewers.
