‘Today’ vs. ‘GMA’ battle intensifies as Hoda Kotb returns to NBC

TV’s fall season is only just getting into gear, but at least one major network battle is growing louder.

Just days after “Good Morning America” usurped rival “Today’s” position as the dominant morning program among the viewers advertisers care about most, “Today” has, for now, elbowed its ABC counterpart out of the ratings category – overall viewers – that it usually wins.

For the five days ended September 5, “Today” won an average of nearly 3.87 million total viewers, compared with a little more than 3.82 million for competitor “GMA.” In most weeks, the ABC show is watched by more people overall, while the NBC A.M. standby is watched by more people between the ages of 25 to 54 – the demographic most coveted by news advertisers. In recent weeks, however, those dynamics have been upset.

Blame the fluctuations on a host of potential factors. Did the recent resolution of a carriage blackout between Nexstar Media and AT&T bring a few thousand viewers back to the NBC program? Has the return of Hoda Kotb after several months of maternity leave re-energized the “Today” crowd? Did the fact that neither program’s broadcast last Monday counted as part of Nielsen totals owing to the Labor Day holiday skew the results?

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