'Good Afternoon America' Debut Boosts ABC's Daytime Numbers

ABC

Riding the wave of Good Morning America's resurgent ratings, ABC News debuted its experimental offshoot, Good Afternoon America, to solid numbers on Monday.

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Fast national ratings give the Lara Spencer and Josh Elliott hosted broadcast 1.923 million viewers, 359,000 of which fell into the desirable women 18-49 demographic. Those numbers best the season-to-date average of now-canceled The Revolution, which also ran during the 2 p.m. timeslot, by more than 40 percent in total viewers and 21 percent in adult women.

Running a total of nine weeks before Katie Couric's self-titled talk show takes its spot in September, Good Afternoon America will make a heavy play for eyeballs with appearances from regular GMA staffers Sam Champion, Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos.

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And the weight of the GMA brand means that Good Afternoon America shouldn't be ruled out as just a summer seat filler -- especially with the network's evolving approach to daytime and the 2011 cancelling of soap operas One Life to Live and All My Children. Good numbers would motivate the network to find another spot for it down the line.

After one episode, however, it is still behind lone surviving ABC soap General Hospital. Though the recently renewed Daytime Emmy winner comes at a higher production cost, it's most recent week bested Good Afternoon America's first broadcast significantly, averaging 2.28 million viewers and 558,000 women 18-49.