Sawyer, Gibson Pull ‘Gma’ Ratings Up

Adding Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson to ABC’s slumping morning show “Good Morning America” paid ratings dividends last week, their first in the anchor chairs.

The Jan. 18-22 Nielsen numbers were up 25 percent compared to the show’s performance during the fourth quarter of 1998, up 5 percent from the same week a year ago and up 16 percent from the previous week, the last of the short-lived Kevin Newman and Lisa McRee era.

While the increases are not extraordinary, they do seem to suggest that, for at least the time being, the pairing of Sawyer and Gibson as interim anchors has brought the floundering show a measure of much needed stability.

For the week, “GMA” averaged a 3.6 rating (percentage of the nation’s 99.4 million TV homes) and a 14 share (percentage of the sets in use), with 3,770,000 viewers tuned in, according to preliminary national Nielsen numbers distributed Monday by ABC.

Its closest rival, CBS’ third-place “This Morning,” averaged a 2.6 rating/10 share, with 3,280,000 viewers.

NBC’s “Today,” the dominant morning show the past three years, averaged a 5.3/22, with 6,180,000 viewers.

While “GMA” got its expected ratings boost a week ago Monday with the debut of Sawyer and Gibson, the ratings held up as well for the rest of the week. In fact, after the new anchors’ first show, ratings dropped just 2 percent the following day and remained at that level the rest of the week.

Basically, the new team got “GMA” back to where it was a year ago, before its ratings took a nose dive.

McRee and Newman were teamed for less than eight months, a period of shrinking viewership during which they failed to exhibit much chemistry together.