As always, comparing the 30 minute Nightline with the 60 minute Late Night and Tonight Show is apples to oranges, but note that Conan won in the adult demos again, while Letterman won in average viewers.
via press release:
“Nightline” IS #1 IN TOTAL VIEWERS - OUTPERFORMS “Tonight Show” FOR 12th CONSECUTIVE WEEK
“Nightline” INCREASES +16% IN TOTAL VIEWERS THIRD QUARTER
TO DATE, WHILE “Tonight Show” DECLINES -39%
“Nightline” CLOSES A25-54 GAP WITH “TONIGHT”
BY 66% YEAR TO YEAR
ABC News’ “Nightline” was #1 among Total Viewers for the week of September 7, 2009, outperforming NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” and CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman” according to Nielsen Media Research. This marks the 12th consecutive week “Nightline” beat “Tonight.” The last time “Nightline” beat “Tonight” 12 consecutive weeks was in 1995. Among Adults 25-54 and 18-49, “Nightline” outperformed “Letterman” for second place. In addition, “Nightline” shrank the demo gap with “Tonight” by 66% year to year.
Quarter to date, “Nightline” is in first place among Total Viewers with 3.54 million, a growth of +16% vs. 2008 quarter to date, while “Tonight” has declined -39% in Total Viewers, -22% among A25-54 and -10% among A18-49.
Season to date, “Nightline” is solidly in second place with 3.76 million Total Viewers and 1.62 million Adults 25-54. The program is up +14% among Total Viewers, +3% among A 25-54 and +5% among A18-49.
*Note: Ratings for all three networks were based on a three-day average
ABC News’ “Nightline” is anchored by Cynthia McFadden, Terry Moran and Martin Bashir. John Donvan and Vicki Mabrey are correspondents. James Goldston is the executive producer. The program airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m., ET on the ABC Television Network.
(Week of September 7, 2009)
TOTAL VIEWERS A25-54(000)/ Rtg A18-49(000)/ Rtg
ABC “Nightline” 3,590,000 1,450,000/ 1.2 1,180,000/ .9
CBS “Late Show” 3,280,000 1,210,000/ 1.0 890,000/ .7
NBC “Tonight” 2,930,000 1,580,000/ 1.3 1,510,000/ 1.1
Source: NTI - A25-54, Adults 18-49 & Total Viewers – Wks. of 9/7/09 & 9/8/08 Live +SD. QTD: Live +7 (where available) & Live +SD for 6/29/09-9/13/09 vs. 6/30/08-9/14/08. STD: Live +7 (where available) & Live +SD for 9/22/08-9/13/09 vs. 9/24/07-9/14/08
Letterman is still losing to “Nightline” that’s comical.I’ve said it before&will say it again,Dave needs “To Hang It UP” he sounds like a Cranky old man,&Craig Ferguson would immediately improve that time slot!!
steve, these ABC press releases compare a half hour show to the numbers for those full hour shows which have substantially higher numbers during their first half hour.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Nightline is third across the board in any half hour to half hour comparison.
Give Conan a little more time to fine tune his show,and he will have the commanding lead that Leno had over Letterman.Remember when Leno took over for J.Carson,it took awhile for his ratings to grow.
You know, I don’t think some of you are giving Letterman enough credit. He’s not just some road block for Conan, or a measuring stick for whether Conan has fine tuned his show enough. Letterman’s an icon in his own right, and it’s entirely possible for Conan to have a good show and still not beat him. Personally I think Conan has really come back strong this past week, regardless of the numbers he posts for the week.