Hoda Kotb, an NBC News mainstay who took over as co-anchor of NBC’s “Today” after longtime anchor Matt Lauer was fired in 2017, will leave the show early next year, leaving not one but two key positions open on the network’s flagship morning show.

Speaking on the show Thursday morning, Kotb spoke of a desire to spend time with her two young daughters. “I realized it was time for me to move on to a new chapter,” she told colleagues on the show after her 60th birthday. She noted that she had children later in life and that “they deserve a bigger piece of my time pie than I have.” She is expected to continue contributing to the program after she retires in early 2025.

It will be tough to fill her shoes. In addition to hosting the first two hours of “Today” with Savannah Guthrie, Kotb is also a regular in the lighter 10 a.m. hour, which she co-hosted with Jenna Bush Hager and Kathie Lee Gifford. She has demonstrated a versatility — being able to tackle difficult news and personality traits while showing emotion and heart on screen — that not every television personality can do.

Their departure could be well timed. Network morning anchors are among the highest paid in the news business, but the economics of AM television aren’t what they once were. As viewers abandon traditional TV in favor of digital platforms, be it streaming content, AM newsletters or early morning shows aimed at niche audiences, those top salaries are likely to face new scrutiny.

All major morning programs will be forced to deal with succession issues in the coming years, knowing that the cash flow that once funded the format is dwindling. At ABC, they understand that some “GMA” anchors’ contracts will likely come up for renewal in the next 12 to 18 months. CBS may have put the issue on the back burner by negotiating a new contract with “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King, but even that won’t stop the work of developing potential successors for the anchor, who is expected to turn 70 in the next few months.

Kotb announces her departure as “Today” is doing well in the modern ratings race. Thanks to NBC’s recent coverage of the Paris Olympics, “Today” was watched by more total viewers than “GMA” in the third quarter of this year — the first time the show had a quarter more viewers than its rival since the first quarter of 2018. “GMA” has struggled with declines in recent months, particularly among viewers ages 25-54 — the audience most coveted by the sponsors of the Madison Avenue newscasts.

Certainly, morning news ratings have been declining for years. According to data from the Pew Research Center, the average viewership of NBC’s “Today,” ABC’s “Good Morning America” ​​and CBS’ “CBS Mornings” has been declining since 2020. Between 2020 and 2022, morning news ratings fell 11% for NBC, 9% for ABC and 8% for CBS.

NBC has a wide repertoire to draw on. Craig Melvin, who took on prominent duties on “Today” in 2018 and also co-hosts the show’s 9 a.m. hour, is considered a possible replacement for Kotb, who could take over the duties without much fuss for viewers. Tom Llamas, who joined NBC News in 2022 and has been touted as a potential candidate for some of the news unit’s most prominent anchor roles, has stepped in on “Today” and currently hosts an evening show on the live-streaming service NBC News Now. There are also numerous candidates who could work the 10 a.m. slot, where Bush Hager has found favor with insights into her personal life and a book club that has become a viable side hustle.

Kotb has been with NBC News since 1998, when she was a correspondent for the news magazine “Dateline.” Before that, she worked for years at CBS affiliates in Florida and Louisiana, but she gained a broader profile after joining the fourth hour of “Today” in 2007, which normally airs at 10 a.m. Initially, Kotb was part of a group of staffers assigned to the program, but within months she was paired with Kathie Lee Gifford, a veteran of ABC’s syndicated “Live” who held her own for years alongside Regis Philbin.

Suddenly, Kotb was talking about her dating adventures with Gifford, which were satirized on “Saturday Night Live,” and revealing more about her personal life than a journalist would expect. “It used to be that you could host a morning show, even the 7, and not really reveal much. And I think now that’s all changed. I think now it’s part of entering this world that you have to reveal things. Because people expect so much more,” Kotb said. diversity in 2014. “They don’t know whether to love you or not if you don’t share anything with them, and sometimes you have to push your boundaries. I feel like I’ve pushed myself beyond what I’m comfortable with.”

She works more hours per day at NBC than many of her colleagues. In addition to her anchor roles on two different parts of “Today,” Kotb is also involved in programming for SiriusXM. “You don’t just sit on a stool and do your show anymore,” Kotb said. diversity in 2020. “If you think you can go back to the old school and do it like you used to – those days are over.”