BATTLE FOR NEW YORK: 'GOOD MORNING AMERICA' CHALLENGES 'TODAY' RATINGS CROWN; SAWYER OVER COURIC IN KEY CITIES
ABC's GOOD MORNING AMERICA has caught and passed NBC's TODAY show in many of the nation's top cities, new numbers from NIELSEN RESEARCH reveal.
The morning audience war is set to intensify this fall after GMA topped TODAY in the number one market, New York City, on Monday with a 4.5 rating/15 share over NBC's 3.6/12.
[GMA easily wins Chicago with 4.4/15 over TODAY's 2.6/9, and nearly doubled TODAY in Philly 8.4/25 to 4.0/12.]
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According to overnights for 55 key cities, GMA scored a 4.1/14 to TODAY's 4.6/16.
"A small two share now separates the two shows!" a top ABC source tells DRUDGE. "This may very well be the season we take it."
[TODAY still has a 1.35 advantage nationwide over GMA - a 29%
advantage.]
When she took over the morning anchor chair "temporarily" back in 1999 [telling reporters it would only be for "a few months"], ABCNEWS Diane Sawyer privately set a goal to dethrone TODAY in top cities, a source close to the star said Monday.
With Sawyer still in the chair at GOOD MORNING AMERICA more than 4 years later, her personal goal now appears to be realized.
Developing...
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