ADWEEK; ABC, CBS, NBC By Mark Mwachiro --> The second week of the broadcast season ended with all three morning news shows gaining total viewers. ABC News’ Good Morning America and NBC’s Today also saw growth in the advertiser-coveted demo for the week of September 28.
GMA is keeping the demo battle interesting, registering double-digit gains to bring the gap between it and Today to 100,000 viewers.
According to Nielsen’s national live+same-day big data plus program ratings, GMA averaged 2.722 million total viewers and 485,000 viewers in the A25-54 demo for the week of Sept. 28. Compared to the previous week, ABC News’ morning show was up +8% in total viewers and +19% in the demo. When looking at how it performed in the same week in 2025, GMA grew +2% in total viewers and +3% in the demo.
Today continued its reign at the top in total viewers and the demo, with 2.848 million and 585,000 viewers, respectively, for the week of Sept. 28. Today grew by +2% in total viewers and +3% in the A25-54 demo compared to the previous week. Its demo lead over GMA stood at 100,000 total viewers. When put up against the same week in 2025 , Today was up +6% in total viewers and +7% in the demo.
CBS Mornings had 1.716 million total viewers and 275,000 viewers in the demo for the week of Sept. 28. Compared with the previous week, CBS News’ morning show grew by +1% in total viewers but declined by -2% in the demo—the only morning show with a drop in either of the measured categories. Versus the same week in 2025, CBS Mornings was down -9% in total viewers and -3% in the demo.
September 28, 2026 (Nielsen Big Data + Panel):
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 9/28/26), Previous Week (w/o 9/21/26) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 9/29/25). Most Current Data Stream: 2026-2027 Season (9/21 – 10/04/26) and 2025-2026 Season (9/22 – 10/5/26).
Mark Mwachiro is a TVNewser contributor who has been writing for the blog since March 2022. Based out of New York, Mark has also contributed to ADWEEK.
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