Two Women and Zero Harassers Are Leading the Today Show Now and Everything Is Fine

By Isha Aran  |  December 12, 2017 | 6:25pm
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It’s been almost two weeks since Matt Lauer’s abrupt firing from NBC’s Today show over sexual misconduct. Yet despite being one of America’s most familiar faces and beloved hosts for 20 years, it looks like Lauer’s departure hasn’t hurt Today’s ratings. In fact, Today has become the most-watched newscast for the second week in a row since Lauer left—even with (gasp!) two women as the main hosts.

As Variety reports, for the first time in a year, Today has brought in more viewers than Good Morning America, both overall and particularly with the 25-54 demographic, for two weeks straight. This is all despite there being a general downward trend for morning show viewership overall, compared to last year. More specifically:

“Today” captured an average of nearly 1.64 million people between the ages of 25 and 54 for the week ended December 8th, according to Nielsen and an average of nearly 4.58 million viewers overall. Meanwhile, “GMA” lured an average of nearly 1.38 million people between 25 and 54 during the time period, along with an average of nearly 4.38 million overall.

Clearly Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb are holding it down, though it’s not clear if the team will become a permanent one. Maybe people are tuning in more simply due to shock. Or maybe the men like Lauer who were protected for so long due to the supposed profits they bring in aren’t as indispensable as everyone seems to think.

 
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