TV Ratings: Charlie Sheen Sit-Down Brings ‘Today’ 5.5 Million Viewers

Today‘s 2015 ratings turnaround continues to get better. Coming off of its tenth straight week atop Good Morning America, Tuesday’s sit-down with Charlie Sheen brought the network exceptionally strong advantages in both the key demo and total viewers.

Preliminary stats have the NBC show averaging a strong 5.5 million viewers, 2.3 million of them adults 25-54. Those stats have Today beating ABC’s GMA by 803,000 viewers and 542,000 in the demo.

With very little public notice, Today managed to drum up plenty of headlines by booking Sheen. The Two and a Half Men actor sat down with Matt Lauer during the live telecast to admit that he’d been diagnosed as HIV positive — putting to bed recent rumors that had been swirling about his health.

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A victory for in any scenario, the ratings win comes at a particularly great time for the show. Today lost its ratings advantage to GMA, one that it held for nearly two decades, back in 2012. But the recent change in rankings has the show winning ten consecutive weeks and enjoying a handsome lead two months into the 2015-16 TV season.

Season to date, Today is besting GMA by 6 percent (up 93,000) in adults 25-54 and CBS This Morning by 79 percent (up 764,000).

Tuesday’s audience win remains more of an outlier. Season-to-date, Today is still behind GMA by 377,000 viewers. That’s still cut the gap by 51 percent from where it was the same time last year.