NBC’s biennial Olympics broadcasts tend to lift the network’s other programming as well, with the NBC Nightly News and morning show Today typically surging in the ratings during the summer and winter games.
The past two weeks have been no exception, with both Nightly News (7.52 million viewers) and Today (3.4 million) scoring significant gains compared to the same time last year. In Today’s case, however, there’s also likely been another, far less celebratory reason for the ratings spike: the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, Today anchor Savannah Guthrie’s mother.
Nancy Guthrie was reported missing on Jan. 31 from her home in Arizona, and Today has led nearly every day’s show since then with updates on the case (which have been numerous). Savannah Guthrie has been off the air since her mother’s disappearance and forewent a trip to the Winter Olympics in Italy, where she had been slated to be part of the broadcast team for the Feb. 6 opening ceremony. In Guthrie’s absence, former Today host Hoda Kotb has filled in as co-anchor alongside Craig Melvin.
The 3.4 million viewers Today has averaged in the past two weeks is up 26 percent from 2.69 million for the same period in 2025. Some of that is probably due to the intense interest in Nancy Guthrie’s case, but a lot likely comes from the Olympics.
The Guthrie case may have had more of an effect in the week of Feb. 2, when Today grew by 23 percent year over year. Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance had happened over the previous weekend, and the Olympics didn’t fully begin until Friday of that week. Last week, with the games fully in motion, the ratings spike probably had more to do with the Olympics.
During the 2024 Summer Olympics, for instance, Today’s audience grew by about 22 percent compared to the previous year. The effect was negligible during the 2022 winter games, which posted all-time ratings lows, but a ratings spike for the morning show during Olympic periods is a common pattern.
By comparison, ABC’s Good Morning America is up by about 7 percent year to year over the past two weeks at 2.91 million viewers, while CBS Mornings has fallen by about 14 percent to 1.78 million.
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