Longtime “Today” show co-host Matt Lauer admitted that the NBC program is in need of improvement.
“Today,” which has been the top-rated morning show for 16 years, recently lost in the weekly ratings battle to ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
“Times are harder there right now, I think it’s been well publicized,” Lauer said Wednesday on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight.”
“The show is not where I want it to be right now, the ratings are not where I want them to be,” he told guest host Donny Deutsch — a “Today” show contributor.
The 54-year-old admitted that the growing popularity of ABC’s program “lights a little bit of a fire under our butts” and said the competition “has our full attention.”
Lauer, who became “Today’s” co-anchor in 1997 alongside Katie Couric, deflected a question about potential sources of the show’s lagging viewership, amid reports his current co-host Ann Curry is to blame.
“When people start to write articles about what might be wrong with the ‘Today’ show, you know, where you should point the finger, point it at me because I have been there the longest. And it’s my responsibility,” he said.
Lauer signed a long-term deal — reportedly worth $25 million a year — in early April to stay at NBC, but he downplayed the amount.
“I have not heard anybody come up with the right amount,” he said, though he conceded, “In this business, for some reason, they are very generous with people like me.”