'Today' Tops 'GMA' With Paula Deen Interview

NBC's Today earned what has become a rare win over Good
Morning America
on Wednesday with Matt Lauer's exclusive interview with disgracedcelebrity chef Paula Deen, beating the ABC program in total viewers and the
key demo.

Today averaged 4.798 million total viewers, a
168,000-viewer margin over GMA's 4.63 million, according to Nielsen
preliminary ratings. It was the first day the show beat GMA in total
viewers since Nov. 2, 2012, the week of Hurricane Sandy when it topped ABC by
162,000 viewers.

In the adults 25-54 demo, Today drew 1.876 million
viewers to GMA's 1.708 million. Final numbers will be released on July 5.

The weekly ratings, however, remain firmly in ABC's favor.
For the week of June 17, GMA topped Today by 910,000 total
viewers and 172,000 adults 25-54. GMA's total viewer win streak now
stands at 44 weeks and it has ranked first in the demo for 32 of the 38 weeks
this season.

Watch Lauer's interview with Deen here.