CBS This Morning Delivers Best Ratings in 29-Years

CBS THIS MORNING finished the 2016-2017 television season with CBS’ best overall morning news viewer delivery in at least 29 years (since the advent of people meters in 1987), according to Nielsen most current ratings. This marks the second consecutive year that CBS THIS MORNING delivered CBS’ largest audience in the morning in nearly three decades.

CBS THIS MORNING was the only network morning news broadcast to post a year-to-year increase among viewers and the only network morning news program to maintain its adults 25-54, women 25-54 and women 18-49 rating, compared to a year ago, according to a CBS press release.  ABC and NBC each experienced declines in those categories, according to Nielsen’s most current ratings.

“In this competitive landscape it is especially gratifying to see our growth trend continue as more people discover CBS THIS MORNING,” said executive producer Ryan Kadro. “Clearly the focus on real news is paying off and we couldn’t be more proud of the show we are putting on the air each day.”

For the 2016-2017 television season, CBS THIS MORNING delivered 3.68 million viewers, putting CBS in its closest competitive position with NBC’s “Today” in at least 29 years and with ABC in 18 years. On some recent days this season the gap with NBC’s Today has been less than 150,000 viewers, down from nearly 3 million when CTM launched five years ago.

Since the program launched in the 2011-2012 season, the audience for CBS THIS MORNING has grown a whopping 46%, while NBC and ABC have declined -18% and -8% respectively. Also in five years, CTM is up +5% in the key adults 25-54 demo, while both NBC (-29%) and ABC (-25%) are down double digits.

CBS THIS MORNING launched Jan. 9, 2012, and each weekday morning, Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Norah O’Donnell deliver two hours of original reporting, breaking news and top-level newsmaker interviews in an engaging and informative format that challenges the norm in network morning news programs. The broadcast has earned a prestigious Peabody Award, a Polk Award, three News & Documentary Emmys and three Daytime Emmys. The broadcast was also honored with an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award as part of CBS News division-wide coverage of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.