'CBS This Morning' Climbs In Morning Ratings

The Cast of Today Show

It’s the day before Halloween, so turn to ABC and you’ll see the “Good Morning America” anchors in costumes promoting a “Monster Mash Dubsmash.” Flip on NBC and the “Today” crew is dressed up as the “Peanuts” gang.

Watch “CBS This Morning” and you’ll notice Charlie Rose and Gayle King and Norah O’Donnell are. . . well, dressed like the grownups they are.

As regular viewers know, that’s intentional according to The Washington Post.

O'Donnell, Rose, King

A hard-news focus has helped the show quietly rise in the ratings since it launched nearly three years ago, hitting a milestone 1,000 episodes on Friday. Really, pretty much everything “CBS This Morning” does is quieter than its broadcast counterparts. There are no celebrity news segments, or cooking demonstrations, or summer concert series with thousands of screaming fans.

But “CBS This Morning” is up 10 percent in total viewers during the most recent broadcast year, which network execs see as a definite move in the right direction. Granted, it’s still tough to be third, says executive producer Chris Licht.

“We’re all very competitive people,” Licht said. “That’s been a challenge. [Morning] TV is a glacial kind of thing, it’s very habit-forming. We’re moving in the right direction, but I want to knock on every door in America and say ‘Just try us for one day. You’ll really like it!’”

At the moment, there seem to be quite a few viewers who prefer watching a more serious newscast in the early hours. “CBS This Morning” launched in January 2012 after the network canceled “The Early Show,” its most recent failed attempt in a decades-long effort to get a morning foothold. The goal was to start from scratch with a new show following the tone of CBS’s “Evening News” and “60 Minutes,” which remains the objective today. Licht credits much of the show’s loyal following to the chemistry between anchors. The trio gets along on and off-set, and the audience can tell.

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CBS This Morning posted the largest audience in the time period for a CBS network morning news broadcast since the start of CBS's morning news electronic records (prior to at least 1993-1994), according to Nielsen most current ratings for the 2014-2015 television year. The broadcast also matched its performance with adults 25-54 from a year ago, and was the only broadcast network to do so. CBS This Morning delivered more than three million viewers for the second consecutive year and was the only network morning news broadcast to post year-to-year gains in viewers.

The broadcas was in the closest competitive position (for any CBS morning news broadcast) with "Today" since the 1993-1994 television year and since the start of CBS's morning news electronic records (prior to at least the 1993-1994 season) in adults 25-54. CBS This Morning was in the closest competitive position (for any CBS morning news broadcast) with "GMA" since the 2009-2010 television year in viewers and since 2011-2012 in adults 25-54.