Dismay over 'GMA'

On Monday morning, Simone Swink, the “Good Morning America” boss, gathered her troops for a meeting and acknowledged a tough reality: The show is underperforming in the ratings.

Indeed, over the last four consecutive weeks, the Disney-owned network's flagship morning show has found itself on the losing side to rival "Today,” with the NBC News program edging it out in both total viewers and the advertiser-coveted 25-54 demographic. Making matters worse for “GMA,” which has long bested “Today” in total viewers, I'm told that the NBC News program is expected to win a fifth consecutive week when ratings are released Wednesday.

Zooming out, "Today" has won three of the last four months in total viewers and the key 25-54 demo, according to Nielsen, with its November win being the first time it has won that specific month in six years. While “GMA” is still beating “Today” season-to-date, the NBC News program opened up its biggest competitive advantage over its ABC News competitor in 13 years for the month of November. (Necessary caveat: All morning shows are in decline as linear goes the way of the dinosaur. In 2024, the fight between networks is to avoid losing more audience than their competitors.)

In the Monday meeting with her staffers, Swink — who I’m told was quietly promoted earlier this year to a new position overseeing the entire “GMA” brand, including “GMA 3” and the network’s 4am show — made some minor operational tweaks to improve workflow. She reminded employees that they are expected to be in the office four full days a week. And she also announced that the morning pitch meeting will be moved to noon each day. But apart from those announcements, she didn’t say much else about the ratings losses, except to acknowledge that there is work to do. Of course, just broaching the topic was an admission of the poor state of affairs at the morning broadcast.