As Jeff Zucker Exits for CNN, Katie Couric's Ratings Hit New High

11:18 AM PST 11/29/2012 by Michael O'Connell, Alex Ben Block

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ABC's freshman talker tops its previous premiere week highs and its host opens up about her EP's departure: "I'm grateful that Jeff has been so instrumental in getting our show off to such a strong start."

Disney-ABC/ Ida Mae Astute

Katie Couric's executive producer may be heading out the door, but her numbers are going up.

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Her freshman daytime series, with former Today collaborator Jeff Zucker at its helm since the start, just hit new highs in household ratings and total viewers. The week of Nov. 12, which was also the most recent complete week of the November Sweep, saw Katie average a 2.1 rating among households and net 2.746 million viewers each day.

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In addition to Katie's a wide margin of victory over her closest new competition -- Steve Harvey averaged a 1.4 households rating and 1.873 million viewers for the same period -- the show posted its best numbers since its Sept. 10 premiere week.

Katie's previous high was a 2.0 households rating and 2.559 million viewers, giving it respective growth of five and eight percent. Compared to the week before, Katie was up a more robust 17 percent by both measures. The week of Nov. 12 also saw Katie match highs in all key female demographics (18-34, 18-49 and 25-54).

This good news happens to coincide with the imminent departure of Zucker. The former NBC Universal chief, who helped Couric launch her series, leaves Katie in mid-January before he officially takes over as the new president of CNN Worldwide.

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As The Hollywood Reporter previously reported, one or more producers are expected to join current co-executive producers Kathy Samuels and Michael Bass with day-to-day operations of the show. That news is expected to come sometime before January's NATPE conference.

“I'm very excited that Jeff has such a wonderful opportunity at CNN and equally excited for CNN," Couric said in a Thursday statement. "I'm also grateful that Jeff has been so instrumental in getting our show off to such a strong start and look forward to working with the fantastic staff we've assembled and building on the strong foundation we've created.”