The search is already on to find who can replace Matt Lauer on “Today,” according to a new report.
Less than two years after the disastrous decapitation of Ann Curry, NBC News chiefs are carefully debating who could be the heir apparent when Lauer, who earns nearly $25 million a year and has two years left on his current contract, moves on.
According to a Hollywood Reporter story NBC Universal execs including CEO Steve Burke and News Group chairman Pat Fili-Krushel are trying to make the next transition as painless as possible.
“We hope that he wants to last out at least this contract on the Today show,” Fili-Krushel recently told THR, adding that she’d “keep Matt Lauer as long as he wants to stay.”
But she also admitted the focus over the next two years is finding his heir apparent and that “expanding the family is the easiest way” to groom a successor but “not the only way.”
Willie Geist, 38, joined just over a year ago as co-host of the 9am hour with Natalie Morales and Al Roker. According to the report, he and “Meet The Press” host David Gregory are the “obvious in-house” candidates to succeed Lauer, 55. But the report doesn’t take into account that ‘Meet The Press’ has itself struggled in the ratings with rumors Gregory could himself be replaced.
The report cites Q Score ratings, which measures audience sentiment towards stars, which reveal Geist and Gregory have higher positive ratings than Lauer among adult women, the key demographic for morning shows.
It is also claimed that “Today” has expressed an interest in Anderson Cooper, who is currently negotiating a new deal at CNN. Ryan Seacrest and Carson Daly are considered long shots to replace Lauer.
THR reported the stakes are high. In 2012 “Today” generated $515 million in ad revenue. But the show’s ratings are slipping against ABC rival “Good Morning America”, which is now the No1 morning program, spurring a shift in ad dollars to GMA.
Asked about his future on Today during the Sept. 12 unveiling of the show’s new set, Lauer asserted that he is “more invigorated” by his work than he has been “in a long time.”
A “Today” rep didn’t immediately get back to us.