NBC's late-night stars have returned from their two-week Olympic break with dominant wins, as "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" defeated CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman" at 11:35 p.m. ET by "Tonight's" biggest margins of victory in more than a year. And at 12:35 a.m., "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" delivered its biggest wins over CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (in rebroadcast last week) since mid July in adults 18-49 and since August 2007 in total viewers.
The August 25-29 week also saw Conan tie Letterman in adult 18-49 rating (0.7 each) and easily outscore Letterman in the younger half of that target demo, adults 18-34 (0.7 vs. 0.5), despite Conan's later start time.
In a week that was impacted by overrun primetime coverage of the Democratic National Convention, "Tonight" topped Letterman by a 70 percent margin in adult 18-49 viewers and 71 percent in total viewers, while Conan outscored Ferguson by 71 percent in 18-49 and 42 percent in total viewers. Jay and Conan were especially dominant in the younger half of the target 18-49 demo, with Jay winning by an 80 percent advantage among adults 18-34 and Conan doubling Ferguson.
Jay's 70 percent win over Letterman in 18-49 viewers is his most dominant since the week of April 2-6, 2007 and his total-viewers advantage of 71 percent is his biggest since the week of June 18-22, 2007. Conan's 71 percent win over Ferguson in 18-49 is his biggest since July 14-18, 2008 and his 42 percent victory in total viewers is his most dominant since August 6-10, 2007.
"Tonight" continues to dominate all broadcast and cable competition, topping Comedy Central's 11 p.m. ET series "The Daily Show" in adult 18-49 viewers last week by a 79 percent margin (1.660 million adults 18-49 vs. 928,000) and beating Comedy Central's 11:30 p.m. series "The Colbert Report" by 124 percent (1.660 million vs. 740,000). "Late Night" also defeated all cable competition in its time period in adult 18-49 viewers. Versus Adult Swim programming in that hour, Conan prevailed by a margin of 67 percent (936,000 vs. 560,000).
For the week of August 25-29, Jay's average 1.660 million adults 18-49 topped the 976,000 of Letterman; in total viewers, Jay's audience of 4.536 million persons beat Letterman's 2.654 million; and in adults 18-34, Jay's 639,000 out-delivered Letterman's 355,000. At 12:35 a.m. ET, Conan's 936,000 adults 18-49 for the week out-delivered Craig Ferguson's 548,000; in total viewers, Conan's 1.789 million beat Ferguson's 1.258 million; and in adults 18-34, Conan's 448,000 topped Ferguson's 218,000.
At 1:35 a.m. ET for the week, encore telecasts of "Last Call with Carson Daly" tied Ferguson rebroadcasts and ABC's mostly original telecasts of "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in adult 18-49 rating (0.4 each). In the valuable adult 18-34 demographic, "Last Call" (0.4) outscored both Ferguson and Kimmel (0.3 each) while pulling within a tenth of a rating point of Letterman originals and ABC's "Nightline" originals (0.5 each).
WEEKLY AVERAGES
(According to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of August 25-29. Ratings reflect "live plus same day" data unless otherwise noted. Season-to-date figures are averages of "live plus seven day" data except for the two most recent weeks, which are "live plus same day.")
ADULTS 18-49
11:35 p.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 1.3/5*
CBS "Late Show," 0.7/3*
ABC "Nightline," 0.8/3*
12:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 0.4/2*
12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 0.7/4*
CBS "Late Late Show," 0.4/3 (in encore telecasts)*
1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.4/3 (in encore telecasts)*
TOTAL VIEWERS
11:35 p.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 4.5 million viewers*
CBS "Late Show," 2.7 million viewers*
ABC "Nightline," 2.9 million viewers*
12:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 1.4 million viewers*
12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 1.8 million viewers*
CBS "Late Late Show," 1.3 million viewers (in encore telecasts)*
1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 1.1 million viewers (in encore telecasts)*
* All late-night programs experienced some delays in start times during the week due to overrun coverage of the Democratic National Convention. Monday's "Kimmel" was an encore.
SEASON-TO-DATE AVERAGES
ADULTS 18-49
11:35 p.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 1.4/6
CBS "Late Show," 1.0/4
ABC "Nightline," 1.0/4
12:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 0.6/3
12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 0.8/4
CBS "Late Late Show," 0.5/3
1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.4/3
TOTAL VIEWERS
11:35 p.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 4.7 million viewers
CBS "Late Show," 3.5 million viewers
ABC "Nightline," 3.3 million viewers
12:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 1.6 million viewers
12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 1.9 million viewers
CBS "Late Late Show," 1.7 million viewers
1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 1.1 million viewers
SELECTED CABLE RESULTS, WEEK OF AUGUST 25-29
NATIONAL ADULT 18-49 RATING
Comedy Central, 11 p.m. ET, "The Daily Show," 0.7
Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m. ET, "The Colbert Report," 0.6
Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 0.8
Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 0.4
Each adult 18-49 rating point equals 1.31 million viewers
TOTAL VIEWERS
Comedy Central, 11 p.m. ET, "The Daily Show," 1.4 million
Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m. ET, "The Colbert Report," 1.1 million
Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 1.9 million
Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 1.2 million
Source: NBC Press Release
Nielsen TV Ratings Data: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
