TODAY Edges Out Couric-Hosted GMA in Morning Ratings Race

Despite bringing in popular news anchor Katie Couric to fill in for the vacationing Robin Roberts on ABC'S GOOD MORNING AMERICA, the 'Today' show still won the morning ratings battle, particularly in the all-important adults 25-54 demographic.  

On Couric's fourth day at GMA, viewership for the show was 4.638 million viewers, 435,000 short of Today's 5.073 million. In the 25-54 demo, GMA lost by a smaller margin, but fell short by 228,000 against Today's 2.091 million number.

Couric and Lauer hosted Today together for nearly a decade. To counteract the news that Couric would be temporarily sitting in for Roberts this week, NBC lined up Sarah Palin and Ryan Seacrest for guest appearances.  

On this morning's 'Today', anchor Matt Lauer announced his plans to stay on as host of the NBC morning show, despite rumors that he would be leaving once his current contract with the network expired.  

So far this season, Today has averaged 5.4 million viewers over GMA's 4.9 million.