According to an email to the New York Times, 'Today' show executive producer, Jim Bell, said, "We couldn't be happier with the new TODAY anchor team, and the fresh new feel of the show."
Bell gave a statement on the show's position over preliminary reports showing ABC's 'Good Morning America' leading TV ratings against NBC.
According to the Nielsen preliminary reports, GMA maintained its lead over 'Today' through Wednesday of this week, the same week Savannah Guthrie made her debut as co-anchor.
GMA's daily average of 360,000 more viewers than 'Today' has been the biggest lead ever during 'Today's' 17-year dominion, with Wednesday's viewership reaching an impressive difference of 582,000 viewers.
GMA not only surpassed 'Today' in that front, but it also did in another demographically key front, the 25-54 years category.
According to the NY Times, advertisers pay to reach this audience and the preliminary reports find that Today had 100,000 viewers less than GMA when one week ago it was leading by 24,000.
The news could've been received as a blow to 'Today' show execs, but according to Bell's email, it seemed that the results were somewhat expected.
"It's impossible to draw conclusions after a few days of unofficial ratings. We just made a big change that we didn't take lightly, and we are in this for the long run," he said.
While prelim reports are pretty accurate, we'll see what Bell says when official ratings are in next week.
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