ABC Morning Show Host Takes Shot at 'Today' Rivals

The morning news wars appear to be heating up, and one ABC host is taking humorous aim at his Today competitor. After ABC Australia's News Breakfast morning program surpassed Nine Network's Today in total viewership for the week ending May 6, News Breakfast host Michael Rowland took a jab at the competing program.

Celebrating the massive victory that was 13-years in the making, Rowland, who hosts News Breakfast alongside co-host Lisa Miller, said in a press release, "the result reflects our key point of difference to the other shows," before going on to take direct aim at Today. The statement continued, "we don't have 'News' in our title for nothing." Rowland added, "it is really pleasing to see viewers coming to us for information and analysis, particularly in the election campaign. And of course they still get some laughs!"

News Breakfast's win over Today was confirmed on May 8. In a report, it was revealed that the long-running morning program secured 19,000 more viewers on average over Today. For that five-day time period, News Breakfast averaged 195,000 daily viewers, with the Nine Network show averaging 176,000. Per the release, "it has taken over 13 years, and an election campaign to make it happen, but ABC's News Breakfast has overtaken Nine's Today show." Still, those numbers were not enough to push News Breakfast to first place, which was claimed by fellow morning program Sunrise, which continued to be a ratings leader with an average of 241,000 metro viewers.

ABC Australia isn't the only ABC division celebrating some major wins. Back in the U.S., ABC marked a major win over competitor NBC when Good Morning America toppled Today in a major category. For the five-day period ending May 6, the long-running ABC morning program bested the NBC show in the critical category of viewers between 25 and 54. In that category, GMA averaged 815,000 viewers, compared to Today's 768,000. GMA also secured a win over Today in the broader category of the biggest audience among morning-news programs, securing nearly 3.4 million to Today's nearly 2.96 million. In a statement, Simone Swink, executive producer of Good Morning America, said, "it's an incredible win as we deal with the challenges of still broadcasting and working during a pandemic." He went on to praise the ABC team, who he said is "laser-focused on delivering the best straightforward, relevant and engaging news. We love our viewers who join us every morning and make this possible!"