After a week of feeling the heat from ABC News’ Good Morning America in the advertiser-coveted Adults 25-54 demo, NBC News’ Today created some meaningful distance between the two newscasts for the week of October 20.

Overall, 76,000 demo viewers separated the shows, an improvement for Today after it saw its No. 1 position challenged by GMA the week prior, when it shrank that lead to only 22,000 viewers.

Interestingly enough, the reverse happened in the total viewers category. Today closed in on GMA, narrowing the gap to just 21,000 total viewers.

Meanwhile, all three morning shows did not see declines in viewership in either measured category during the just-concluded week.

According to national live+same-day big data plus program ratings from Nielsen, GMA averaged 2.708 million total viewers and 494,000 viewers in the A25-54 demo for the week of October 20. Compared to the previous week, ABC News’ morning show was up by +1 % in total viewers and the demo. Looking at its performance to the same week in 2024 (October 21), GMA was up by +4% in total viewers and +1% in the demo. 

Today strengthened its first-place hold in the demo, with 570,000 viewers, and remained the No. 2 morning show in total viewers with 2.687 million for the just-concluded week. The broadcast grew by +5% in total viewers and +12% in the demo compared to the previous week. Looking at how it performed during the same week in 2024, Today was up by +5% in total viewers but down -17% in the demo.

Lastly, CBS Mornings had 1.810 million total viewers and 277,000 viewers in the A25-54 demo. Compared to the previous week, CBS News’ morning show was flat in total viewers and up +6% in the A25-54 demo. During the same period in 2024, CBS Mornings experienced a -4% decline in total viewers and a -31% decline in the demo—the only morning show to record losses in both categories in this yearly comparison.

Source: Nielsen, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54, and Adults 18-49 National Live + Same Day Big Data Plus Panel Program Ratings.; Current Week (w/o 10/20/25), Previous Week (w/o 10/13/25) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 10/21/24). Season to date: Most Current Data Stream: 2025-2026 Season (9/22–10/26/25) and 2024-2025 Season (9/23–10/27/24).