Viewers Continue To Vote For Matt Lauer-Free ‘Today’ Show

Viewers continue to enjoy Matt Lauer-free mornings on NBC. For a third consecutive week, the Today mothership show – 7-9 AM ET – outstripped ABC’s Good Morning America in overall audience, a derby GMA typically dominates.

For the week of December 11, Today show averaged 4.59 million viewers, ahead of GMA’s 4.51M and also CBS This Morning’s 3.7M.

Today continues to control the 25-54 news demo, last week scoring a 1.4 rating and an average of 1.69M viewers. GMA logged a 1.2 rating and 1.4M viewers and CTM trailed at 0.9 rating and 1M viewers.

Today also won the ratings race in the younger 18-49 age bracket, averaging a 1.0 rating and 1.29 million viewers, ahead of GMA’s 0.8/1.01M and CTM’s 0.6/722K.

It marks the third straight week that Today has taken the ratings in all three metrics. Last time that happened, Today basked in Rio Olympics ratings for two weeks in 2016, and the post-Rio week was no ratings slouch, what with all that Ryan Lochte drama.

Pundits continue to forecast Today’s ratings eventually will settle back down. That’s because the jump coincided with viewers tuning in to the November 29 broadcast and learning dramatically that NBC News had fired longtime co-host Lauer.  The news division said it took this action after receiving a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace. The stunning news was announced on-air by co-host Savannah Guthrie, with Today Hour 4 co-host Hoda Kotb seated by her side in the chair that had been Lauer’s for two decades.

Kotb remains Guthrie’s co-host as Today continues to sweep the weekly ratings.