via Press Release

“GMA” IS #1 FOR THE WEEK: POSTS HISTORIC MARGINS OF VICTORY OVER 
NBC’S “TODAY” — LARGEST TOTAL VIEWER AND A25-54 MARGINS IN 18 YEARS

“GMA” on Top in 8 of Last 10 Weeks

 “GMA” Grows Week to Week and Year to Year While “Today” Declines Versus Last Year

Photo Credit: Donna Svenevik/ABC

ABC News’ “Good Morning America” won the week of August 27, 2012, ranking as the No. 1 morning newscast in both Total Viewers (5.386 million) and Adults 25-54 (1.969 million), according to Nielsen Media Research.  “GMA” outperformed NBC’s “Today” (4.503 million and 1.817 million, respectively) by +883,000 Total Viewers and +152,000 Adults 25-54, scoring its largest margins over “Today” in more than 18 years in both measures – since w/o 5/16/94 and w/o 8/15/94, respectively. Additionally, Goodmorningamerica.com on Yahoo! is the dominant morning news website, leading NBC’s Today.com by millions of pageviews and unique users.  In July 2012, 24 million people visited Goodmorningamerica.com on Yahoo!.

“GMA” has ranked No. 1 in Total Viewers for the last 3 weeks and in 8 of the last 10 (trailing an Olympics-fueled “Today” during the other 2 weeks).  “GMA” has also ranked No. 1 in Adults 25-54 in 3 of the last 7 weeks.

“GMA” was completely dominant in its victory over “Today” during the week, not only beating the NBC program in all 5 head-to-head telecasts in both Total Viewers (Mon: +714,000, Tues: +1.018 million, Wed: +728,000, Thurs: +989,000 and Fri: +971,000) and Adults 25-54 (Mon: +39,000, Tues: +153,000, Wed: +155,000, Thurs: +204,000 and Fri: +213,000), but owning the Top 5 telecasts of the week in Total Viewers and Top 4 in Adults 25-54.  Furthermore, for the first time in more than 18 years, “GMA” beat “Today” in all 5 telecasts in both Nielsen measures – since w/o 8/8/94.

For the 3rd straight week, “GMA” built on the previous week (4.837 million and 1.778 million, respectively, on w/o 8/20/12) in both Total Viewers (+11%) and Adults 25-54 (+11%).  Hitting a season high in Total Viewers, “Good Morning America” drew its largest overall audience in 16 months – since w/o 4/25/11, the week of the Royal Wedding. In addition, “GMA” turned in its strongest news demo performance in more than 3 months – since w/o 5/21/12.

“GMA” surged on its year-ago numbers (4.705 million and 1.747 million, respectively, on w/o 8/29/11) by double-digits in Total Viewers (+14%) and Adults 25-54 (+13%), standing as the only morning newscast to grow year to year – NBC’s “Today” (-9%/-18%) and “CBS This Morning” (-3%/-10%).

Season to date, “GMA” has cut its gaps with “Today” by more than half in both Total Viewers (-59%) and Adults 25-54 (-51%) versus its year-ago season gaps.  “GMA” is posting its smallest margins with “Today” in 17 years in Total Viewers (301,000) and Adult 25-54 (343,000) – since the 1994-95 Season. 

Season to date “GMA” is the only morning program to grow in Total Viewers (+4%) and Adults 25-54 (+6%) versus its year-ago averages (NBC’s “Today:” -5%/-10%, respectively; CBS’ “This Morning:” -6%/-8%, respectively).  “GMA” is seeing its largest overall season audience in 6 years, since 2005-06.

“GMA” more than doubled the performance of “CBS This Morning” in both Total Viewers (+130%) and Adults 25-54 (+130%).

WEEK OF 8/27/12       TOTAL VIEWERS   ADULTS 25-54        HOUSEHOLDS

ABC                    5,386,000      1.7/12; 1,969,000     4.0/15

NBC                    4,503,000      1.5/11; 1,817,000     3.5/13

CBS                    2,338,000      0.7/ 5;   857,000     1.9/ 7

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 Live + SD weeks of 8/27/12, 8/20/12 & 8/29/11, or as dated.  Most Current:  2011-2012 Season (9/19/11 – 9/2/12) and 2010-2011 Season (9/20/10 – 9/4/11).

Emmy Award-winning “GMA,” featuring the anchor team of Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, Sam Champion, Lara Spencer and Josh Elliott, airs live Mon.-Fri. (7:00-9:00 a.m., ET) on ABC. Tom Cibrowski is senior executive producer.

Photo Credit: Lou Rocco/ABC

Sunday, September 23 marks ABC’s turn to host the “The Primetime Emmy Awards” (now in its 64th year) and in honored tradition the network will also be airing the pre-show, “Emmys Red Carpet Live.” This year the red carpet festivities will be hosted by the network’s Josh Elliott and Lara Spencer (“Good Morning America” and “Good Afternoon America“), Chris Harrison (“The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette“) and Clinton Kelly (“The Chew“).

The quad will chat live from the red carpet with some of the biggest primetime stars as they arrive at the Nokia Theatre L.A LIVE. Elliott and Harrison will interview the stars and discuss the nominees, while Kelly and Spencer will also conduct interviews with a touch of Emmy fashion.

“Emmys Red Carpet Live” airs Sunday, September 23 from 7:00-8:00 PM ET/4:00-5:00 PM PT on ABC. “The 64th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards,” hosted by Jimmy Kimmel,” airs immediately afterward from 8:00-11:00 PM ET/5:00-8:00 PM PT.

Although “Good Afternoon America“ showed some gains over the recent performance of ratings eyesore “The Revolution,” those gains could only last so long. The ABC News daytime talk show hosted by “Good Morning America‘s” Lara Spencer and Josh Elliott has also failed to bring in an audience on par with the year-ago airings of the canceled “One Life to Live” after five weeks of ratings data (week of August 6-10, 2012).

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