CBS Mornings had a memorable week January 22-26, with a higher score in the adults 25-54 demo than Good Morning America on three consecutive days. There have been two other times this season that CBS has beaten the ABC program in that demo.
On Wednesday, January 24, CBS Mornings had 584,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo, per Nielsen numbers provided by CBS News, to GMA’s 578,000. A day later, CBS Mornings posted 561,000, while GMA had 540,000. On Friday the 26th, the CBS program tallied 536,000, and ABC’s 477,000.
The 551,000 average in viewers 25-54 the week of 1/22-26 represented a 62-week high for CBS Mornings.
NBC’s Today averaged 698,000 demo viewers that week, while Good Morning America had 556,000.
CBS Mornings showed a 1% audience gain in the demo the week of January 22, versus the same week a year before. Today was down 9% year over year and GMA was off 28%. In total viewers, CBS Mornings averaged 2,368,000 that week, down 4% from the same week a year before. Today had 2,806,000, down 5%, and GMA had 2,857,000, off 12%.
Shawna Thomas, executive producer of CBS Mornings, said the ratings gain is about chemistry in the anchor team, Gayle King, Tony Dokoupil and Nate Burleson. “I think we’ve found a great trio,” she said.
Thomas took over what was then CBS This Morning in February 2021, after stints at Quibi, Vice News and NBC News. The show rebranded in September 2021, renamed CBS Mornings to better establish the link to CBS Saturday Morning and CBS Sunday Morning. Burleson joined King and Dokoupil at the anchor desk, and Anthony Mason shifted to covering arts and culture. The program is based in a new studio overlooking Times Square.
Thomas mentioned an “intangible thing” between the anchors, but one that the viewer knows when he or she sees it. “There’s magic there,” said Thomas, who added that the trio has the best chemistry in morning TV. “What I think the audience has seen is that it works.”
Burleson was a wide receiver for the Vikings, Seahawks, Lions and Browns, finishing his football career in 2014. He joined CBS Sports in 2017 as an analyst on The NFL Today.
Mason’s culture stories have a prominent role in the broadcast. On February 2’s program, he previewed the Grammys, which are February 4 on CBS, and interviewed singer-songwriter Brandy Clark.
What’s Next
CBS has the Super Bowl February 11, and the morning show will be in Las Vegas Thursday and Friday, February 8 and 9. Thomas mentioned “a lot of time and energy spent to blow that out.”
After that, Thomas promised more travel segments, more health, more tech, and more regular segments for “The Dish,” which CBS Mornings calls “Stories about food and life.”
“A big thing for me is consistency with our segments,” she said.
Thomas noted how CBS Mornings leans more into original reporting and investigative work at 7:30 a.m., meaning harder, longer pieces than one might expect in a morning program. She said it’s in the core DNA of CBS Mornings, as it is with 60 Minutes, CBS Evening News and other network newscasts.
“I will continue to put the resources into that,” Thomas said, adding that the ideal CBS Mornings story makes the viewer a little smarter, and eager to tell a friend or family member about the story they just watched.
She brought up correspondent Jericka Duncan’s report on the Ohio woman, Brittany Watts, who is facing charges related to abuse of a corpse after she miscarried. The story got lots of play in the media, but Thomas said Watts’ take on it had not been revealed. In a CBS Mornings meeting, participants discussed whether the story was right for a morning news program, and decided Watts’ story had to be shared.
‘I want to take risks,” Thomas said, “even if it’s morning TV.”
