via NBC press release:
Conan O'BRIEN DEBUTS WITH THE TOP 'Tonight Show' OVERNIGHTS FOR A MONDAY IN FOUR YEARS AND SEVENTH-BEST MONDAY IN THE LAST 17 YEARS
LAUNCHING HIS RUN AS 'Tonight Show' HOST, Conan SOARS 82 PERCENT ABOVE THE SECOND-QUARTER 'TONIGHT' AVERAGE AND 173 PERCENT ABOVE HIS 'LATE NIGHT' FINALE
Conan IS #1 FOR THE NIGHT IN THE METERED MARKETS, TOPPING ALL PRIMETIME SHOWS ON ALL NETWORKS
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. - June 2, 2009 - Last night's premiere telecast of "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" generated "Tonight's" highest metered-market household rating for a Monday edition in more than four years and the seventh-highest Monday in the 17 years since Jay Leno began his run as "Tonight" host in May 1992, according to in-home viewing figures from the 56 local markets metered by Nielsen Media Research.
The Monday debut of "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" averaged a 7.1 rating, 17 share in metered-market households, "Tonight's" strongest "overnight" results since the January 24, 2005 telecast featuring a special tribute to Johnny Carson.
Last night's 7.1 rating in the metered markets is up 82 percent versus the "Tonight" second-quarter average of a 3.9 rating in the 56 local markets metered by Nielsen.
Versus his final telecast of "Late Night" on February 20, Conan was up last night by 173 percent (7.1/17 vs. 2.6/8).
Conan won last night's time period by a 154 percent margin over CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman" (7.1/17 vs. 2.8/7) and beat the combined results in that hour of "Late Show" and ABC's "Nightline" (2.7/6) and "Jimmy Kimmel Live" (1.2/4 with an encore telecast).
"The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" was Monday's #1 telecast in the metered markets, rating ahead of all primetime telecasts on all networks.
At 12:35 a.m. ET, "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (2.5/9) delivered its highest metered-market rating to date for a Monday telecast, topping even the show's March 2 series premiere (2.3/8). Jimmy generated a 47 percent increase over the show's 1.7/6 average for the quarter to date and dominated the hour over CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.6/5).
Conan has taken over as host of "Tonight" after a dominant run as host of "Late Night" from September 13, 1993 through February 20, 2009, a period during which he won 57 out of 57 quarters in adults 18-49 over "Late Late Show" competition.
National ratings for last night's "Tonight," including demographics and viewer totals, are due from Nielsen on Thursday, June 11.
This is no spin. I love NBC; its my most-watched network, they do have some of the best shows on television.
Shem works for NBC. lol
I fell asleep watching it, but the set looks awesome! Much much better than the new Late Night set.
It is going to be a long summer w.out Jay !!
I had trouble watching it until even the 1st commercial. Never made it to Will Ferrell the 1st gueast. What is wrong with him? I just don’t get what people like about him. WIll try watching the rest when I am more alert to see if it gets better. But does not look like will be worth my time. I think the ratings will drop unless there is nothing else new on. Letterman is better than that
Will Tivo Kimmel and most likely watch next day instead.
I think I recorded it. I’ll watch it tonight when I get home.
Sorry Conan!
I fell asleep at 8:30pm last night so I had no chance of seeing this! But two things:
1.) it was pretty easy to predict that there would be strong ratings for the premiere episodes. What it looks like in a couple of weeks will be more enlightening. The same will be true for Leno when it appears in the fall, and it will be interesting to see if there is any impact on Conan’s ratings due to Leno
2.) NBC promoted the hell out Conan’s debut over the last week or so, at least that was the impression I got from binging on NCIS reruns on USA Network the last week. There were a lot of Conan promos. Not as many as Burn Notice or Royal Pains perhaps, but more than enough to notice them.
Conan was good but the set was much too big.
That Conan got these big ratings on the premiere should be no surprise to anyone. Way back when Letterman went to the 11:35 spot he also garnered big ratings initially. This is most probably due to 2 factors. 1) Curiosity from the 11:30 crowd about what this new guy is all about and 2) a number of “loyalty” viewers from the 1:00 crowd giving him a boost.
Both factions will level off after some months or a year and find their permanent niche. . Just like what happened with Letterman.
Nice show! He’s basically doing Late Night in LA, which is exactly what I wanted. But I seriously doubt Counan will keep up with Leno’s viewers, but the demos will improve.
I love Letterman no matter what. Conan is no Letterman.
Letterman got a 10.8 ratings on his CBS premire.
Connan is no Letterman or Leno, infact he’s better. I loved that show so much. I’m so happy my generation of late night is finally taking over. NBC really had top notch late night comedy. I even like Fallon’s kinda quirkiness awkardness too
LETTERMAN, LETTERMAN, LETTERMAN
i agree with robert lets wait and see for a few weeks to see-right now he is a novelty-its still new
I always though Conan was much funnier than Leno.
Letterman’s show is just plain boring and has been for a decade.
I didn’t catch last night’s show but I do think that Conan’s weakness has always been his interviewing skills. He tends to inject too much of himself into the interviews.
I am going to watch tonight.
The high ratings for Conan’s first Tonight Show isn’t surprising as NBC promoted it heavily and of course people will be curious but we’ll have to wait and see especially with The Jay Leno Show later in the year.
I wonder if CBS and ABC have ideas for the successors for Late Show/Late Late Show and Live! I doubt Jimmy Kimmel is ready to leave just yet but I wonder if we’ll see Craig Ferguson on the Late Show if Letterman retires or will they go for someone younger.
conan is no johnny..no jay and certainly no dave…i didnt watch, will tune in at some point..but i just cant stand him and his stupid over the top voices and manic behaviour…and he is not a good interviewer…he really seems more suited to a comedy show….i hope daves ratings pick up and conans go down…of coure i think lettermans show is do for some freshening up too…
I have my preferences when it comes to hosts, but really my viewing habits are really dictated by the guests. I watch the show with the guests I want to see most. If none of them interest me, I don’t watch at all. So I’m surprised there isn’t more variability in the ratings depending on who happens to be on the respective shows on a given night.
The whole late night genre is an utter snore. I watched in in the summer when I was 13 before we had cable, otherwise forget it. Why waste time when there is cable, on demand, hulu, etc.
I don’t understand what people see in Letterman. He’s not funny at all and not particularly likable either. Leno seems like a great guy, very likable, but Conan’s show was always much more funny. Conan seemed a bit nervous and repressed in his premier… a bit too serious compared to what I typically expect from him. I hope in the future we’ll see some more of the “old Conan” and his brand of immature humor which was always successful in cracking me up.
Little fun fact, when Conan was starting out, Letterman would actually send people (who couldn’t get seats at his show) to Conan’s studio to fill seats and help him out. Letterman might not like NBC but he showed nothing but love for Conan. Conan was first offered week to week contracts for the show as no one at NBC thought he would make it.