‘Today’s Viewership Shows Sharp Increase Amid Nancy Guthrie Case & Winter Olympics

The circumstances behind Today‘s recent surge in viewership are both positive and negative.

The NBC morning show is now in its second week of covering the disappearance of Savannah Guthrie‘s mother, Nancy Guthrie. Nancy was reported missing on February 1 after last being seen at her Tucson, Arizona, home the night prior.

Fans tuned in to Today for the latest updates in the investigation into Nancy’s disappearance, leading to an overall 23 percent viewership increase during the week of February 2, according to Nielsen ratings published by Variety on Wednesday, February 11. The series drew nearly 3.32 million viewers last week, compared with Good Morning America‘s nearly 2.91 million and CBS Mornings‘ approximately 1.84 million.

According to Nielsen numbers, 41 percent of last week’s morning TV viewers watched Today, while GMA and CBS Mornings drew 36 percent and 23 percent, respectively. Today, however, saw a four percent year-over-year dip in the 25 to 54 demographic.

“NBC wants to satisfy its audience’s concerns and curiosity while supporting its traumatized TV star, but it doesn’t want to look like it’s exploiting the tragedy to boost viewership and ratings,” Mark Feldstein, chairman of broadcast journalism at the University of Maryland, said in a statement to Variety. “Competing television networks are also in a tricky position. They can’t ignore the story completely, that would be insensitive, and they also don’t want their viewers switching the dial to find out the latest development in the case from NBC. Yet they can’t be happy to be giving too much attention to their competition in a story that’s objectively not as significant as most of the news they cover.”

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Additionally, NBCUniversal is currently the exclusive broadcasting home of the 2026 Winter Olympics. In addition to updates on Nancy’s disappearance, much of Today‘s coverage over the past week has been focused on the Games, featuring exclusive interviews with athletes and reporters on the ground in Italy.

Guthrie dropped out of cohosting the Opening Ceremony last week, with NBC’s Mary Carillo taking her place. Craig Melvin and Hoda Kotb also stepped back from their original Olympics gigs amid reports that NBC has increased security on the Today set.

Melvin addressed the complexities in reporting on Nancy’s case on the Monday, February 9, episode of Today. “Hoda’s joining us this morning as our Today family continues to navigate uncharted territory, balancing the updates on the search for Savannah’s mom with all of the other stories of the day, like we normally do,” Melvin said as Kotb joined him at the anchor desk. “But we know things are far from normal right now, so folks, we are asking for your grace as we continue to do this.”

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Officials believe Nancy was abducted from her home against her will, and have offered a $50,00 reward to anyone with information related to her whereabouts or alleged kidnappers. Authorities have also not confirmed the authenticity of reported ransom notes demanding millions in exchange for Nancy’s return. Savannah and her siblings, Annie and Camron, have released multiple plea videos requesting proof of life and offering to pay for their mother’s return.

Officials detained a potential suspect for questioning shortly after the FBI released images and clips of Nancy’s suspected abductor on her porch on Tuesday, February 10. The man, identified as an Arizona DoorDash driver named Carlos, was eventually released.

Today, Weekdays, 7a.m./6c, NBC