Marissa Mayer's Morning Show Mess Up Was Even Bigger Than We Thought

A couple days ago, we noted how odd it was that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer went on "Today" to introduce the new Yahoo! homepage instead of going on ABC's "Good Morning America."

It was an odd decision because ABC and "GMA" are an important Yahoo! partner AND because "GMA" is a much bigger show than "Today Show."

One source close to the partnership was dumbfounded by Mayer's decision, calling it "tone deaf."

Now we have a new reason this was a screw-up.

The day Mayer went on "Today" was also the day "GMA" welcomed back Robin Roberts, who had been battling cancer. It turns out Roberts' return drew HUGE numbers.

"GMA" normally gets about 5 million viewers. It got more than 6 million the day Mayer went on "Today" instead.

MediaBistro reports that the gap in audience size between "GMA" and "Today" on the day Mayer went on Today was largest it's been in more than three months.

By the way, it's not like Roberts' return would have crowded out Mayer. We have it on good authority that if Mayer or her team had simply asked to go on, ABC would have thrown its doors wide open for her.

That's what partnerships are about, we're told: win-wins.

At least they're supposed to be.

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