Katie Couric’s ‘Good Morning America’ Stint Fails to Dent ‘Today’ Ratings Advantage

Good Morning America is still the bridesmaid of morning shows.

Despite promoted pinch-hitter Katie Couric joining the broadcast as a guest host for what’s turning out to be a highly competitive week, Monday’s episode of the ABC series did not top perennial winner Today.

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Fast affiliate ratings give Couric’s first GMA 4.780 million viewers yesterday. That’s 333,000 shy of the NBC series’ dominant haul of 5.113 million.

Today, Couric’s home for 16 years before she left to take a post on the CBS Evening News, posted an even stronger advantage among the coveted adults 25-54 demo. Today averaged a 1.8 rating (2.204 million) over GMA’s 1.5 (1.760 million).

For GMA, which has seen consistent growth, the last two Mondays were actually stronger. Compared to the Q1 averages, both series are shy of 2012 highs. The first three months of the year brought Today an average 5.39 million viewers (2.39 million adults 25-54) and GMA earned 4.93 million viewers (2.0 million in the demo).

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Tuesday should prove an even more interesting battle, as it brought a much-hyped guest co-host appearance from former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. Ryan Seacrest was also scheduled to make a big announcement, but his appearance was pushed to Monday.

Couric’s GMA stint is the latest in a series of appearances and specials tied to the September launch of her new ABC daytime talk show, Katie.