While advertisers have been paying a premium for NBC’s “Today” with co-host Matt Lauer (above), media buyers say rival “Good Morning America” is starting to look like a better bang for their buck. (Landov)
In the morning show duel, ABC’s “Good Morning America” is giving NBC’s “Today” not only a run for ratings but also ad dollars.
As the No. 1 morning show, “Today” has long commanded a pricing premium from Madison Avenue, but “GMA’s” improving performance in recent months is threatening to knock “Today” off its pricey perch.
Media buyers said a single 30-second spot on “Today” costs between $40,000 and $50,000, while a comparable spot on “GMA” fetches far less, around $30,000 to $40,000.
Typically, the ad rate for “Today” — measured as the cost to reach a thousand viewers, or CPMs — runs about 8 to 10 percent higher than for “GMA,” according to Marc Morse, senior vice president of national broadcast with RJ Palmer, part of marketing company MDC Partners.
While advertisers have grown accustomed to shelling out top dollar for the dominant “Today,” the morning show doesn’t boast the massive lead it once did over rivals — a fact not lost on media buyers who are seeking the most bang for their clients’ buck.
“Both ABC and NBC deliver valuable audiences to their advertisers. It’s just that advertisers are getting better value now that ABC is closing the gap in ratings,” Morse said.
On Tuesday, “Today” drew 5.49 million viewers, while “GMA” garnered 5.14 million. In the key 24-to-54-year-old target audience for news, “Today” clung to a slim lead of 2.2 million viewers compared with 1.91 million for “GMA.”
Despite narrowing the ratings race, ABC has a long way to go before it catches up in total ad dollars. “GMA” reaped $314 million in 2011, versus “Today’s” mammoth haul of $454.6 million, according to figures from ad measurement firm Kantar Media.
As a cash cow, “Today” has been crucial to fourth-place NBC, which has struggled for years to revive its primetime lineup.
“Given the difficulty NBC is experiencing in other [timeslots,] the relative value of “Today” to advertisers becomes that much greater because there aren’t as many equally strong opportunities on the rest of the schedule,” Kantar Media’s senior vice president of research, Jon Swallen said.
With the May “upfront” television ad-buying season around the corner, both ABC and NBC are looking to hype their respective news divisions.
“GMA” drafted former “Today” co-host Katie Couric for a two-week stint that kicked off Monday, while “Today” teed up former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin as a guest host.
With the stunts, “Today” came out on top by about 357,000 viewers. In the most recent week, however, “Today” is only beating “GMA” by 137,000 viewers, according to Nielsen. That’s the narrowest gap in five years.
Gary Carr, senior vice president and executive director of national broadcast at ad-buying firm TargetCast, said that with the ad market a little slow right now, the Katie Couric stunt is a pretty good way of drumming up business and grabbing some attention ahead of the upfronts and her new syndicated show.
“It’s a good ploy by ‘GMA’ to try to close the gap and generate some extra revenue and help promote Katie’s syndicated show,” Carr said.