Variety: Hoda Kotb to Exit NBC’s ‘Today’ in Early 2025

Story from Variety:

Hoda Kotb, an NBC News mainstay who stepped up to co-anchor the flagship hours of NBC’s “Today” when longtime host Matt Lauer was ousted in 2017, will leave the program at the beginning of next year, opening not one, but two important roles at the network’s flagship morning franchise.

Speaking Thursday morning on the program, Kotb cited a desire to spend time with two young daughters. “I realized it was time for me to turn the page,” after a recent 60th birthday, she told colleagues on the program. She noted that she had children later in life and that “they deserve a bigger piece of my time pie that I have.” She is expected to continue to contribute to the program after she departs in early 2025.

Her shoes will be hard to fill. Kotb not only anchors the first two hours of “Today” with Savannah Guthrie, but she has been a regular in its lighter 10 a.m. hour, which she has co-anchored with Jenna Bush Hager and Kathie Lee Gifford. She has demonstrated a versatility — able to tackle hard news stories and personality features while also displaying emotion and heart on screen — that not every TV personality can.

She may be making an exit at a smart moment. The morning anchors on the broadcast networks are among some of the most highly paid in the TV-news business, but the economics of A.M. TV are not what they once were. As viewers leave traditional TV for digital platforms, whether they be streaming content, A.M. newsletters, or early-morning efforts aimed at niche audiences, those top-of-the-market salaries are likely to come under new scrutiny.

All of the big morning programs will be forced to consider issues of succession in coming years, well aware that the flow of money that once fueled the format is narrowing. At ABC, it is understood that some contracts of “GMA” hosts are likely to come up for renewal over the next 12 to 18 months. CBS may have kicked the issue down the line by negotiating a new contract with “CBS Mornings” co-anchor Gayle King, but even that will not negate the work of developing potential replacements for the anchor, who is expected to turn 70 in coming months.

Kotb announces her departure while “Today” is faring well in the modern-day ratings race. With a boost from NBC’s recent telecast of the Paris Olympics, “Today” was watched by more viewers overall in the third quarter of this year than “GMA” — the first time the show has won a quarter over its rival in total audience since the first quarter of 2018. “GMA” has grappled in recent months with declines, particularly among viewers between 25 and 54 — the crowd coveted most by Madison Avenue sponsors of news shows.

To be sure, morning audiences have ebbed for years. The average audience for NBC’s “Today,” ABC’s “Good Morning America” and CBS’ “CBS Mornings” has declined since 2020, according to data from Pew Research Center. Between 2020 and 2022, morning news viewership decreased by 11% for NBC, 9% for ABC and 8% for CBS.

NBC has a wide bench from which it might draw. Craig Melvin, who was given prominent duties on “Today” in 2018 and also co-anchors the show’s 9 a.m. hour, is seen as a potential replacement for Kotb, and could take on new duties without much fuss for viewers. Tom Llamas, who joined NBC News in 2022 and has been seen as a potential candidate for some of the news unit’s most prominent anchor roles, has filled in on “Today” and currently leads an evening program on the live-streaming service NBC News Now. There are also any number of candidates who might work at 10 a.m., where Bush Hager has gained traction with peeks into her personal life and a book club that has become a viable sideline business.

Kotb has been at NBC News since 1998, when she joined as a correspondent for the “Dateline” newsmagazine. She arrived at NBC after logging years at CBS affiliates in Florida and Louisiana. But she gained a wider profile after joining a fourth hour of “Today” in 2007 that typically airs at 10 a.m. At first, Kotb was one of group of personnel assigned to the show, but within months was paired with Kathie Lee Gifford, a veteran of the syndicated ABC program “Live” who held her own for years opposite Regis Philbin.

Suddenly, Kotb was talking about her dating adventures with Gifford. being satirized on “Saturday Night Live” and sharing more of her personal life than than a journalist might expect. ” It used to be you could host a morning show, even the 7, and not really reveal too much. And I think everything has changed now. I think now part of entering into this world, you have to reveal things. Because people expect so much more,” Kotb told Variety in 2014. “They don’t know whether to love you or not if you don’t share anything and sometimes you have to go beyond. I feel like I’ve gone beyond what I’m comfortable with.”

She works more hours per day at NBC than many of her colleagues. In addition to the anchor roles on two different parts of “Today,” Kotb is also involved with programming for SiriusXM. “You no longer just plant your behind on a stool and do your show,” Kotb told Variety in 2020. “If you think you’re going to go old school and do it the way you used to — those days are over.”