The first full week of 2025 saw such breaking news events as the Los Angeles wildfires, former President Jimmy Carter‘s state funeral, and the departure of a popular morning show co-host. Not surprisingly, all three morning news shows posted double-digit gains in total viewers and the advertiser-coveted Adults 25-54 demo during the busy week of Jan. 6.

NBC News’ Today maintained its No. 1 placement in both measured categories, and built on its lead over ABC News’ Good Morning America. 163,000 total viewers separated the two rival morning programs.  

NOTE: ABC News’ GMA was retitled to GMA-ABC, and NBC News’ Today was retitled to Today-TS on Thursday (01/09/2025).  CBS News’ CBS Mornings was retitled to CBS Morn on Wednesday (01/08/2025) and Friday (01/10/2025) and coded as a breakout on Thursday. ABC’s and NBC’s weekly averages are based on four days (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday). CBS’ averages are based on two days (Monday and Tuesday).

According to live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen, GMA averaged 2.905 million total viewers and 485,000 viewers in the A25-54 demo for the week. Compared to the previous week, GMA was up by +15% in total viewers and +13% in the demo. Looking at its performance alongside the same week in 2024 (the week of Jan. 8), GMA was down -6% and -20% in those respective categories.

Today finished the first full week of 2025 as the top morning show in both total viewers and the demo with 3.068 million viewers and 780,000 viewers, respectively. That translates to week-to-week gains of +21% in the former category and +34% in the latter. Year-to-year, Today was up by +4% in total viewers and +2% in the demo—the only morning show to register growth compared to 2024.

One reason for its robust performance may have been the fact that this was Hoda Kotb‘s final week as a Today co-host. Her Friday departure likely brought in additional viewers.

Finally, CBS Mornings saw 2.047 million total viewers and 415,000 A25-54 viewers for the just-concluded week. The morning show saw week-to-week gains of +12% and +25%, respectively. Compared to the same period in 2024, CBS Mornings was down -13% in total viewers and -16% in the demo.