Today soars past Good Morning America in the ratings after NBC makes decision to fire Matt Lauer

Today posted its highest numbers in close to a year last week as it averaged 4.9 million viewers to win the week over Good Morning America
The ABC morning show averaged 4.36 million viewers on average for the week, and were behind in the key demo
This boost came after Matt Lauer was fired, with NBC pulling in 5.742 million viewers on the day of the announcement last Wednesday

Published: 20:03 GMT, 5 December 2017 | Updated: 20:48 GMT, 5 December 2017

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Firing Matt Lauer turned out to be good business for NBC last week.

Today managed to rocket past Good Morning America is overall viewers last week, finishing out with an average of 4.9 million per Nielsen.

That put the program well ahead of GMA, who averaged 4.36 million as well as CBS This Morning, who wrapped up the five-day period with 3.525 million viewers.

On Wednesday, the morning after Lauer was fired, 5.742 million viewers turned in to Today, the most since the 2012 London Olympics.

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On top: Today posted its highest numbers in close to a year last week as it averaged 4.9 million viewers to win the week over Good Morning America ( l to r: Hoda Kotb, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker and Lester Holt)

Morning: The ABC morning show averaged 4.36 million viewers on average for the week, and were behind in the key demo (l to r: Michael Strahan, Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos)

Today also won the key demo for the week with an average of 1.723 million viewers.

GMA had 1.41 million while CBS had 933,000 on average for the week.

Those solid ratings could explain why an NBC source told DailyMail.com that Hoda Kotb would be Savannah Guthrie's co-anchor for the 'foreseeable future.'

This ratings spike comes just after a report last week claiming that Lauer was seeking a $30million payday drew a strong response from executives at NBC on Friday.

A source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to DailyMail.com that Lauer would not be receiving any payday or salary beyond his last day of work at the network.

That was first reported by CNN, who noted that Lauer's morals clause likely allows NBC to withhold his salary.

This boost came after Matt Lauer was fired, with NBC pulling in 5.742 million viewers on the day of the announcement last Wednesday

It was also noted that Lauer could choose to sue the network in an attempt to receive additional pay, but they will not agree to hand over any money to the disgraced anchor.

Also on Friday, a memo sent to staff by NBC News Chairman Andy Lack revealed that an internal investigation as underway into the matter of Lauer's 'appalling behavior.'

'A team of the most experienced NBCUniversal Legal and Human Resources leaders have begun a thorough and timely review of what happened and what we can do to build a culture of greater transparency, openness and respect for each other,' read the memo.

'At the conclusion of the review we will share what we’ve learned, no matter how painful, and act on it.'

On top of that, Noah Oppenheim, the NBC News President, promised 'severe' punishment for any employee who knew about Lauer's behavior and sat on it.

'I can tell you, on a personal level, that if there is anyone who works here, who still works here, who knew about this and didn't report it, this is going to be dealt with in the most severe way possible. And that is why were are conducting this review,'said Oppenheim.