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New Co-Host’s Debut Pushes ‘Live!’ to Ratings Milestone

Sep 11, 2012  •  Post A Comment

The debut of Michael Strahan last week as the new co-host with Kelly Ripa on “Live!” gave the syndicated morning talk show a ratings boost. The Los Angeles Times reports that the show had its highest premiere-week ratings in six years.

During Strahan’s first four days as co-host, the syndicated talk show attracted an average of 2.03 million viewers, based on metered markets, compared with 1.77 million during the same week a year earlier.

Strahan’s debut episode on Tuesday, Sept. 4, delivered 2.49 million viewers, the show’s largest audience since last November’s farewell episode for Regis Philbin.

"It’s widely assumed that Strahan, a former defensive end for the New York Giants and a panelist on "Fox NFL Sunday," was hired to draw more male viewers to ‘Live!’ But in a blow to conventional wisdom, his presence actually seems to be attracting more women to the show, with its numbers up among women of all ages — especially young women — versus the same week last year," the article notes.

Strahan was also a big draw in New York, the biggest U.S. television market, with ratings up 59% compared with a year earlier, the piece adds.

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