‘CBS Mornings’ celebrates one year on the air

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CBS Mornings” celebrated one year on the air Sept. 7, 2022.

The show, which was essentially a rebranding of “CBS This Morning,” launched Sept. 7, 2021, from Studio 1515 at what was then known as the Viacom building in Times Square.

The name “CBS Mornings” was inspired by the iconic “CBS Sunday Morning” broadcast and CBS’s latest attempt at a morning broadcast also took on a theme song inspired by the “Sunday” trumpet fanfare.

It debuted from a reworked version of the Times Square studio originally built for the network’s 2020 election coverage, with some new scenery brought in to complement the plentiful video walls.

Unlike its counterparts at ABC “Good Morning America” and NBC “Today,” “CBS Mornings” does not have studio space that affords it with views of its surroundings. While the studio technically has windows overlooking Times Square, they are covered by CBS News branded graphics and the set itself is mostly boxed in.

In addition to the new name and studio, “Mornings” added co-anchor Nate Burleson in 2021. Burleson joined the show remotely to mark the anniversary, which included a segment shot at his home when he had his fellow hosts over for dinner a few weeks ago.

While “CBS Mornings” has yet yet to surpass “Today” or “GMA” in the overall ratings, CBS News is trumpeting some of its positive numbers.

According to CBS, the show was the only morning show to grow year-over-year in women ages 25 to 54. That’s a key demographic for morning shows, but it notably does not represent growth in total viewers or all adults in the demo.

It did manage to tighten the gap in the adults 25-54 demo with ABC and NBC to the closest margin ever and posted its highest share in both her women 25-54 to adult 25-54 demos.

In ratings terms, “share” is defined as an estimate that represents the percentage of television households watching any TV show at a particular time who are watching a particular broadcast. A “rating,” technically speaking, is a percentage of the all potential households watching a particular show — including those not watching any TV at all at the specified time.

CBS has long struggled in the morning show ratings, having gone through two iterations under the name “CBS This Morning” with “The Early Show” in between. None of these broadcasts, despite numerous anchor changes and format updates, managed to rise to even number two in total viewership.

That spot had long been held by “Today,” but ABC’s “GMA” managed to start edging out NBC in recent years, though “Today” still often leads slightly in the key demos.

Overall, morning news represents a significant profit center for most network news divisions. NBC still manages to command a lead profitability despite the ratings slips at “Today” in part because “GMA” ad rates haven’t caught up to its viewership growth.