via NBC press release:
Conan O'BRIEN TIES 'LATE SHOW' IN 18-49 RATING AND JIMMY FALLON MATCHES 'LATE LATE SHOW' FOR THE WEEK OF DEC. 21-25
Conan AND JIMMY ALSO TIE FOR #1 FOR THE FOURTH QUARTER OF 2009 IN 18-49 RATING AND Conan TOPS LETTERMAN FOR THE QUARTER IN 18-49 VIEWERS
IN 18-49 RATING, Conan HAS FINISHED #1 OR TIED FOR #1 AMONG THE BROADCAST COMPETITION FOR EIGHT OF THE LAST NINE WEEKS, WHILE JIMMY HAS BEEN #1 OR TIED FOR #1 FOR SIX OF SEVEN WEEKS
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. - January 4, 2010 - NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien” and "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" have both tied for #1 among the broadcast networks for the week of December 21-25 in the key late-night demographic of adults 18-49. For the fourth quarter of 2009, "Tonight" has also tied for #1 in its hour with CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman" in adult 18-49 rating and out-delivered "Late Show" in 18-49 viewers. Jimmy Fallon tied CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" for the fourth quarter in both 18-49 rating and 18-49 viewers.
In adults 18-34, Conan led convincingly over Letterman and the ABC team of “Nightline” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” for the quarter, posting a 1.0 rating in 18-34 versus “Late Show’s” 0.7, “Nightline’s” 0.7 and “Kimmel’s” 0.4. Jimmy Fallon also prevailed for the quarter in the valuable 18-34 demo, averaging a 0.6 rating to "Late Late Show's" 0.4 and "Kimmel's" 0.4.
For the quarter, “The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien” topped Comedy Central's 11 p.m. ET series “The Daily Show” in adult 18-49 viewers by a 35 percent margin (1.369 million adults 18-49 vs. 1.017 million) and beat Comedy Central's 11:30 series “The Colbert Report” by 80 percent (1.369 million vs. 761,000). In total viewers, Conan topped “Daily” for the quarter by 46 percent (2.546 million vs. 1.742 million) and “Colbert” by 112 percent (2.546 million vs. 1.202 million). “Tonight” and “Late Night” also out-delivered Adult Swim and all other cable entertainment networks in their 11:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. hours respectively in 18-49 for the quarter.
Conan finished the quarter having ranked #1 or tied for #1 among broadcast networks in adult 18-49 rating for eight of the last nine weeks, while Jimmy has been #1 or tied for #1 in 18-49 rating for six of the last seven weeks.
The median age of Conan’s audience during the quarter was 46.6, nine years younger than Letterman's 56.3 and "Nightline's" 56.4. Conan's audience was even younger than it was at 12:35 a.m. during the fourth quarter last year (47.6). At 12:35 a.m. ET in this year's fourth quarter, the median age of Jimmy Fallon's audience (44.4) was seven years younger than both Ferguson's (52.2) and Kimmel's (51.9).
For the fourth quarter of 2009, Conan’s average 1.369 million adults 18-49 topped the 1.359 of Letterman; in total viewers, Conan’s audience of 2.546 million persons finished behind Letterman's 4.221 million; and in adults 18-34, Conan’s 654,000 topped Letterman’s 459,000. At 12:35 a.m. ET, Jimmy Fallon's 801,000 adults 18-49 for the quarter tied Ferguson's 801,000; in total viewers, Jimmy's 1.396 million finished behind Ferguson's 1.949 million; and in adults 18-34, Jimmy's 410,000 out-delivered Ferguson's 292,000.
WEEKLY AVERAGES
(According to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of December 21-25. Ratings reflect "live plus same day" data unless otherwise noted. Season-to-date and fourth-quarter 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," 1.0 rating, 4 share*
CBS "Late Show," 1.0/4*
ABC "Nightline," 0.9/3*
12:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 0.5/2 (in encore telecast)*
12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 0.6/3*
CBS "Late Late Show," 0.6/3*
1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.3/2 (in encore telecasts)*
TOTAL VIEWERS
11:35 p.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 2.5 million viewers*
CBS "Late Show," 4.3 million viewers*
ABC "Nightline," 3.8 million viewers*
12:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 1.6 million viewers (in encore telecasts)*
12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 1.4 million viewers*
CBS "Late Late Show," 2.0 million viewers*
1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.8 million viewers (in encore telecasts)*
* Thursday and Friday telecasts were preempted and/or listed as specials due to the Christmas holiday and are excluded from these averages.
FOURTH QUARTER/SEASON TO DATE
ADULTS 18-49
11:35 p.m. ET
NBC "Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien," 1.0/4 CBS "Late Show," 1.0/4 ABC "Nightline," 1.0/4
12:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 0.5/3
12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," 0.6/3 CBS "Late Late Show," 0.6/4
1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.3/2
TOTAL VIEWERS
11:35 p.m. ET
NBC "Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien," 2.5 million viewers CBS "Late Show," 4.2 million viewers ABC "Nightline," 4.0 million viewers
12:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 1.7 million viewers
12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," 1.4 million viewers CBS "Late Late Show," 1.9 million viewers
1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.8 million viewers
SELECTED CABLE RESULTS, WEEK OF DECEMBER 21-25
NATIONAL ADULT 18-49 RATING
Comedy Central, 11 p.m. ET, "The Daily Show," 0.3 Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m. ET, "The Colbert Report," 0.3
Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 0.8 Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 0.5
Each adult 18-49 rating point equals 1.32 million viewers
TOTAL VIEWERS
Comedy Central, 11 p.m. ET, "The Daily Show," 0.8 million Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m. ET, "The Colbert Report," 0.7 million
Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 2.0 million Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 1.2 million
This just in….Adios Kimmel in ’10!
So “beat” means “tied OR beat?” From the looks of it, Conan *actually* won in the 18-34 demo. It’s interesting that NBC didn’t just state THAT in the title of the press release. Also, I can’t imagine that NBC is all around thrilled about Conan’s median age being lower than it was during Late Night. The older crowd REALLY doesn’t like him, huh?
The “older crowd” doesn’t buy anything.
Nobody cares about the older crowd. Obama is already killing them off with his healthcare because they vote Republican.
Getting down to 18-49 viewer count now, are we?
Of course, NBC is completely right–just because they are at the same point one decimal percentage, it does not mean that they are actually tied.
Kimmel isn’t going anywhere. What I find odd about all of this and that no one has mentioned is how Conan’s total audience is reflective of his best numbers on “Late Night.” His share of audience has not grown significantly from his move to the earlier hour which I find very telling.
No, I do not think that Conan will be going anywhere soon, but surely NBC cannot be happy with these total numbers, demos be damned. Less eyeballs sampling, less viewers watching, less promotional opportunity to rebuild prime time.
They shouldn’t have tied Leno’s hands because now it is having a spilling affect. Weak lead in to local news, weak lead in to Conan, weaker lead in to Jimmy whose numbers are way down from his premiere nearly a year ago.
NBC needs to abandon hope of obtaining older viewers for any of their late night programs. Really, with a line up of Conan, Jimmy Fallon, and Carson Daly, it’s near hopeless. Can you imagine your mother or grandpa sitting down to watch Fallon’s antics? 9 times out of 10, it just wouldn’t happen.
I suppose it’s somewhat appropriate that Conan is getting more younger viewers now because he’s on earlier and they have more time and opportunity to watch him. From what I gather from this, Conan is beating Dave in the demos, but not pulling in the viewers. Normally, this would be good, but something still seems unsatisfying about it.
Oh wait, it’s probably because Leno is toppling the network. A LEAD IN, NBC. You need a better one. Local news and Conan would be getting more viewers if Leno wasn’t sucking it up 5 days a week.
Strussman makes some excellent points, the least of which is that Kimmel isn’t going to be canceled. He most likely will be, before his contract expires in December. I work in the accounting dept at ABC and trust me, it’s a disaster over there. Kinda a running joke. Been that way for years. Not sure when, but Kimmel is def on life support.
And it’s “fewer”, not less, Strussman. Just fyi.
Good points, quietriot. Viewers seem to like the talk show format and Jimmy K has nothing else to offer that is better than his opponents. I believe the same thing happened top Chevy Chase, Pat Sajak, Joan Rivers, Arsenio Hall, Dennis Miller (am I forgetting anyone?)
Oops–”to,” not “top”–just got really excited typing.
So, Conan beat Dave by 10,000 viewers in the 18-49 demo for Q4. Jimmy versus Craig in the same demo, a dead heat. NBC should be proud of this decisive win.
I wonder what will happen to Conan now that it was announced today that Leno 10 pm show will be ending? Would a Leno 11:35pm, Conan 12:35am, and Jimmy 1:30am work? If not it seems somebody has to go..