'GMA' Poised to Edge Out 'Today' for First Weekly Win in 16 Years

Preliminary ratings show ABC besting NBC by 13,000 total viewers with Lauer on vacation

By Andrea Morabito -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/16/2012 1:05:34 PM

ABC's Good Morning America beat out NBC's Today in the ratings the week of April 9 for the first week in over 16 years, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings.

GMA averaged 5.147 million total viewers to Today's 5.134 million total viewers, beating the NBC program by a slim margin of 13,000 viewers. Those ratings may be adjusted slightly when Nielsen releases the official weekly ratings on Thursday.

Today has held the weekly ratings winning streak since December 1995, and ABC news President Ben Sherwood has made toppling the No. 1 morning program a top priority since taking over the news division.

"This is an exciting day but we will save any celebrating for when the final numbers come in on Thursday," said GMA senior executive producer Tom Cibrowski in a statement.

The race between the two shows was closely watched the week of April 2, when Katie Couric filled in for the vacationing Robin Roberts on GMA, but the ABC show beat Today on only one morning and trailed by 210,000 total viewers for the week.

GMA's win for the week of April 9 came while Today co-anchor Matt Lauer was on vacation. Lauer recently signed a contract extension to keep him on the NBC program for a reported four more years.