'Today' Losing Ground to ABC's 'GMA'

By Stephen M. Silverman

Wednesday November 28, 2001 04:46 PM EST

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Yahoo Buzz
• E-mail

Katie Couric and Matt Lauer, move over. NBC's "Today," long the ratings leader in the morning TV race, is losing ground to ABC's "Good Morning America," hosted by Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer. "Sometimes these shows need a little kick in the pants," 'Today' spokeswoman Allison Gollust told the Associated Press, "and that could be what we're seeing happening." Immediately after last year's presidential election, "Today" averaged an audience of 8.4 million for the week, more than "GMA" and CBS's perennially third-ranked "The Early Show" combined, according to Nielsen Media Research. For the same week this year, "Today" had sunk to 6 million viewers. "GMA" had 5.1 million viewers and "The Early Show" had 2.8 million. The ABC show, which crept closer to "Today" in the ratings during the week of Nov. 12 than it had in five years, has increased its audience by 12 percent since the Sept. 11 attacks, while NBC is down 5 percent. Being credited with the rise is the "GMA" formula of opening every half hour with a news-driven segment involving several correspondents reporting on breaking stories, rather than the "Today" way of providing news headlines or having newsmaker interviews. "Today" was also thought to be hurt by Couric's absence. She was off nine of the 45 weekdays after the attacks, many of them following the death of her sister, Virginia State Sen. Emily Couric, who succumbed to pancreatic cancer.