'CBS This Morning,' Morning Show Ratings Are In

Morning show ratings were released on Friday, which included the first ratings for the new kid on the morning show block: "CBS This Morning."

As expected, NBC's "Today" remained the number one morning show, beating ABC rival "Good Morning America" in total viewers and in the key demographic (Adults aged 25-54). Though "Today" beat its two competitors, "GMA" was the only morning show to demonstrate growth in total and younger viewers from the same week last year. Also, "GMA" continued to close the ratings gap with "Today."

This year, CBS premiered a brand new morning show — complete with new talent and a new studio. Ratings for CBS' new program, "CBS This Morning," were down 10 percent compared to this time last year, but gained viewers throughout the week.

In November 2011, CBS announced that it was scrapping its then-morning show, "The Early Show," and replacing it with a program co-hosted by Charlie Rose and Gayle King. "Early Show's" Erica Hill stayed on to co-host the new program.

The new show debuted on the second Monday of 2012. Rose and Hill co-host the first hour of the program, which focused on hard news stories like the 2012 Republican primary race. King and Hill co-hosted the second hour, which was comprised of softer stories like entertainment pieces and health news.

Also on HuffPost:

Check out all the morning show anchors in the slideshow below:

• Matt Lauer

  Lauer co-hosts NBC's "Today" from 7-9 a.m. "Today" ranks number one as the morning show leader. The show provides viewers with a mix of hard and soft news.

• Ann Curry

  Curry co-hosts NBC's "Today" from 7-9 a.m.

• Robin Roberts

  Roberts co-hosts ABC's "Good Morning America" from 7-9 a.m. "GMA" trails behind "Today" in the number two spot. However, it significantly tightened the ratings gap in 2011. The show provides viewers with a mix of hard and soft news.

• George Stephanopoulos

  Stephanopoulos co-hosts ABC's "Good Morning America" from 7-9 a.m.

• Charlie Rose

  Rose will co-host CBS' "The Early Show" with Erica Hill from 7-8 a.m. CBS recently announced the addition of Rose and Gayle King and a decidedly focused hard news program. "The Early Show" has consistently trailed its network show competitors, "GMA" and "Today."

• Gayle King

  King will co-host CBS' "The Early Show" from 8-9 a.m.

• Erica Hill

  Hill currently co-hosts CBS' "The Early Show." She will co-host the program with Charlie Rose from 7-8 a.m.

• Steve Doocy

  Doocy co-hosts Fox News' "Fox and Friends" from 6-9 a.m. "Fox and Friends" dominates cable news morning shows.

• Gretchen Carlson

  Carlson co-hosts Fox News' "Fox and Friends" from 6-9 a.m.

• Brian Kilmeade

  Kilmeade co-hosts Fox News' "Fox and Friends" from 6-9 a.m.

• Joe Scarborough

  Scarborough co-hosts MSNBC's "Morning Joe" from 6-9 a.m. "Morning Joe" focuses solely on hard news and political commentary.

• Mika Brzezinski

  Brzezinski co-hosts MSNBC's "Morning Joe" from 6-9 a.m.

• Soledad O'Brien

  O'Brien will co-host CNN's 7-9 a.m. morning news program. CNN's "American Morning" fell behind MSNBC and even its own HLN. The network recently announced the return of O'Brien and the replacement of "Amerian Morning" with two new morning programs.

• Ashleigh Banfield

  Banfield will co-host CNN's 5-7 a.m. morning news program.

• Zoraida Sambolin

  Sambolin will co-host CNN's 5-7 a.m. morning news program.

Comments

[millerdenisemarie]

03:58 PM on 05/08/2012

Gayle always has to wear bland sleeveless tops/dresses and wears too much mascara for a morning show. I don't mind the layout and set - I just feel the anchors need to be more natural - not soooo phony! They're all sort of stuck in the 80's. Yes, Erica needs to be front and center. I want to watch bright people in the morning - not people who are dragging like me :-)

[ob14]

08:56 AM on 05/16/2012

Gayle King is just awful...period!! Charlie Rose needs some more coffee to wake up and not be so regimented. I think Erica Hill is good but can the fake laugh. No more CBS for us and that is all the local provides in out area

[blissful1985]

10:53 AM on 05/23/2012

She has to have the fake laugh because of the two she's on there with.

[betsyolson9]

02:32 PM on 04/24/2012

It would have been good to have an alternative, and at first I was positive in my thoughts, but am losing interest. Why? Gayle King and Charlie Rose do not seem to complement one another. I consistently watch his PBS/Bloomberg shows, which is more his style. Gayle King is irritating, I'm not sure why. Erica Hill is good! The "Cutaway" should be cutaway - amateur for sure. Many commercials and too many breaks for local news and weather. This could be a better morning news show, but it needs work.

[snapper64tx]

10:39 AM on 03/22/2012

Comes on after the local news show I use to look forward the the show now I have to turn it off within the first five minutes. I not not like the new personality choices I do Like Erica she is the "breath of fresh air" in the room but it seem she isn't allowed to talk anymore she cant even say her name each morning which is ridiculous. Charlie and Gayle need to be retired or maybe Charlie would serve better in a stiffer program like Meet The Press and Gayle could go to The Big Comfy Couch program for kids. What a shame.....

[R Parker]

06:36 PM on 03/08/2012

CBS new morning show SUCKS. I feel sorry for Jessica Hill having to endure those other 2 every morning. She always had a smile on her face and I don't think I have seen her smile yet with the new format. But I really can't endure watching it for that long. I left the Today Show because I was sick of Matt's constant manipulation of the interviews and found the CBS This Morning show to be fun, informative and entertaining with Jessica and Chris. You have screwed the pooch getting rid of Chris for Charlie and Gayle. Gayle is just your pawn for inside exclusives into the White House during this election year. Which she scored the first few weeks into her new gig. Yea for CBS....I now watch Fox News in the morning. Good by mainstream media.

[Kathysopinion]

12:45 PM on 02/24/2012

Each year I had become more and more disgusted with the morning news programs. I used to be a die-hard Today Show fan, but with their daily fluff and very little news beyond murders of beautiful women, I began watching Good Morning America. I loved their fun approach and the rapport but soon it looked as if the only news they reported on were entertainment news, particularly anything associated with ABC. So it was a gift, really, to see the news format on CBS This Morning. Very little fluff. Actual interviews with people making the news rather than interviewing interviewers (a Today Show standby). As someone with a journalism education, I can say this show lives up to what the news should be. Congrats to the people at CBS. They have brought respect and sophistication back to morning news!

[BMcG792]

10:32 PM on 02/21/2012

I used to watch The Early Show after the local news in the morning. I would mostly listen to it and glance at the TV occasionally while getting ready for work. It wasn't great but not bad enough for me to need to switch channels. Since the new format started, it is so irritating to me that I have to run for the remote to get them off my TV. I can't stand any part of it. If I look at the TV, I find myself staring at Charlie Rose, waiting for him to keel over. He looks up through his eyebrows and appears to be ready to collapse. Gayle King talks over everyone and thinks she is the authority on every topic. If I have to hear her remind us one more time of her connection to Oprah and how that gives her some kind of privilege to get the inside scoop on a story, I will pull my hair out! Rather than go bald, I have switched to GMA.

[CariBean125]

06:00 AM on 03/30/2012

Ditto your WHOLE statement!

[ozarkmomma]

09:50 AM on 02/14/2012

Gayle king has the talent of a sloth, the personality of a diva, the TV physical appearance of oprah, lets just say larger than life. Charlie rose acts like he can not set up straight, wanting to lay on the dek and take a nap. Erica, bless her heart, she has lost her bubble she had in the old show...the changes are making my morning cup of joe wanting to run for the remote...sorry

[VolsFans]

08:33 AM on 02/14/2012

I like the new show. Im glad they kept Erica. Ive followed her since she was in San Fran on Tech TV. The amount of commercials is driving me away. I do not watch alott of tv but I have noticed a major increase in commercials.

Too many commercials for me.

[Mrleagner]

06:31 PM on 02/03/2012

Charlie Rose and Oprah's friend, Gale King, are so boring it reminds me of PBS news. Bring back Erica Hill and Chris Wragge. They had a great rapport and were very interactive while giving me hard news. I'm so tired of CBS. I finally thought they made the right decision in 2011 but they changed it again in 2012. I will have to go back to NBC or ABC if they don't fix the cast soon.

[Wendy Hauptmann]

07:44 AM on 02/06/2012

We had watched The Early Show for several years, and even stayed with the show after Harry Smith left (a huge disappointment!). After the change to CBS This Morning, we started watching GMA. Charlie Rose was great on PBS for in-depth interviews, but his style does not work for early morning news. The reasoning for adding Gayle King escapes us...
If CBS were going to change the line-up, Jeff Glor and Rebecca Jarvis as the anchors with either Betty Nguyen or Terrell Brown as correspondents seemed to be working. If CBS was trying to improve the ratings, they should have left the show alone and maybe advertised more. We've read the comments below that were praising the new show and can only say we were really shocked. For the people that do not have cable, we are sorry that you do not have a broader range of choices. For the people that do, there are plenty of other news programs to choose from. Please desist with the encouragement.

[Wendy Hauptmann]

01:59 PM on 02/06/2012

We had watched The Early Show for several years, and even stayed with the show after Harry Smith left (a huge disappointment!). After the change to CBS This Morning, we started watching GMA. Charlie Rose was great on PBS for in-depth interviews, but his style does not work for early morning news. The reasoning for adding Gayle King escapes us...

If CBS were going to change the line-up, Jeff Glor and Rebecca Jarvis as the anchors with either Betty Nguyen or Terrell Brown as correspondents seemed to be working. If CBS was trying to improve the ratings, they should have left the show alone and maybe advertised more. We've read the comments below that were praising the new show and can only say we were really shocked. For the people that do not have cable, we are sorry that you do not have a broader range of choices. For the people that do, there are plenty of other news programs to choose from. Please desist with the encouragement.

[knomies]

10:57 AM on 02/03/2012

I do not like the new format. Erica Hill is being dressed like a school marm with helmet hair and I can't stand Gayle. All she does is talk about Oprah.

[Deefor Arrow]

10:27 AM on 02/02/2012

I never watched the morning shows-- too much cooking and fluff. Now I watch CBS this morning. I like the focus on news stories. I think it's improving all the time. From other comments I guess viewers aren't used to seeing people who don't look perfect on TV. I didn't notice. It's about the content and for a network morning show it's a great improvement. Hope they hang in there so all the people who don't like the other shows can find them.

[MaryFB]

10:11 AM on 02/02/2012

I started watching the early morning news on the local Chicago CBS channel because of the anchors. Sometimes I didn't change the channel and discovered 'CBS This Morning." I did not like the previous show and would change the channel to the Today show. But I started not changing the channel after this show aired. Now I watch the show daily, and I really like it. Yesterday I had to go somewhere and I taped it to watch it later.
I was annoyed, like others, with the babbling during the Oscar nominations. Yes, Gail flaunts her clout. Erica's choice of tops are very odd and do not flatter her. Charlie Rose does seem like he needs a shot of Geritol, but his interviews and commentaries are done well and are interesting. I especially like that more time is allotted to stories and interviews and are not rushed. As anything, it takes time to gel and find what really works. I only feel this show getting better as time passes.
So, I will keep watching.

[Gjsilver]

11:02 AM on 02/01/2012

I have always watched the underdog, and I admit I was a little unsure of the chemistry of the new anchors, but I LOVE the new show! I'm especially with Gayle King! She's a refreshing change in the morning!

[lpetic]

08:08 AM on 01/30/2012

Gayle King????? It's not working. I can't watch anymore. She's a camera hog.

[GordysMomma]

07:47 PM on 01/28/2012

I have always watched CBS morning show, do not care for the other two networks but that being said I am not happy with CBS. I have watched as you changed everyone around and have gotten rid of people I enjoyed to watch and listen to, always giving it a chance . Now, I do like most of the new set, still not sure about the round table when talking to guests ,unfortunately you have really blackballed yourself with me. Gayle King has absolutely no business being there...period!!! Fist off all she does is try to talk over everyone,even the guests, she is rude and not qualified for the position. Charlie Rose is growing on me, just getting use to his ways and Erica I feel like I know cause I have watched her before. I am giving you one more week, but sadly I have a feeling I will not be watching due to the fact you all most likely do not listen to what the viewers are saying....So sad