NBC is in talks to give morning show host Megyn Kelly a new time slot of her AM program that has been lagging behind in ratings. (NBC)
NBC is starting to think about reshuffling its morning lineup to limit the damage done by struggling “Megyn Kelly Today.”
Sources tell Page Six that network execs are considering moving Megyn Kelly’s show — which has been having a hard time attracting viewers since it debuted in September — an hour later, and bringing Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb’s popular hour of the “Today” show forward by an hour to replace it.
As Page Six reported in October 2017, Gifford and Kotb’s ratings “took a huge hit” after Kelly replaced Tamron Hall and Al Roker’s “Today’s Take” at 9 a.m.
At the time, Kelly was down 32 percent compared to the time slot’s viewership in the previous year. This dropped Gifford and Kotb by 26 percent, because the viewers who turned off Kelly’s show never returned for Gifford and Kotb’s 10 a.m. hour.
“It’s the smart move,” said an insider of moving Kelly. “At the very least that limits the damage already done to Hoda and Kathie Lee — maybe with a strong lead-in from ‘Today’ at 9 a.m., they’ll even pick up some of the viewers they lost since Megyn went on the air.”
The 7-to-9 a.m. slot — anchored by Kotb and Savannah Guthrie — has been doing brisk business since Kotb took over for Matt Lauer after he was fired in November because of allegations of sexual misconduct.
We’re told that the time switch would be a bonus for Kotb, because she could do all her on-air work in one block — between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. — rather than having the one-hour gap between her slot with Guthrie and her slot with Gifford.
Kelly signed with NBC in January 2017 for a reported $20 million per year.
Meanwhile, a network source pointed out that Kelly’s numbers are heading upward, and another quipped, “Just another ‘timeless’ rumor about Megyn Kelly.”
Reps for NBC declined to comment.
This story originally appeared in the New York Post.
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