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Via NBC's Press Release:
‘TONIGHT’ AND ‘LATE NIGHT’ DELIVER BIGGER 18-49 AND TOTAL-VIEWER AUDIENCES THAN THE ABC AND CBS TIME-PERIOD COMPETITION
SEASON TO DATE, JAY HAS STRETCHED HIS TOTAL-VIEWER LEAD OVER ‘Late Show’ TO 15 PERCENT FROM THE YEAR-AGO 8 PERCENT AND JIMMY FALLON HAS INCREASED HIS MARGIN OVER ‘LATE Late Show’ TO 15 PERCENT FROM 1 PERCENT
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – May 3, 2012 – NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” has delivered #1 rankings in viewers 18-49 and total viewers for the week of April 9-13, generating bigger audiences in adults 18-49 and total viewers than its time-period competition of CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman" and ABC's combination of "Nightline" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live." Jay topped “Late Show” by a 13 percent margin in 18-49 viewers, his biggest advantage over a week of “Late Show” originals since December 19-23, 2011.
At 12:35 a.m. ET, NBC’s "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" ranked #1 ahead of CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" and head to head versus ABC’s "Kimmel" in viewers 18-49 and total viewers. Boosted by Tuesday’s telecast featuring an appearance by President Obama, Jimmy delivered his biggest weekly 18-49 audience in eight weeks (since February 27-March 2) and biggest overall audience in nine weeks (since February 20-24).
Note that Monday’s “Late Night” and Friday’s “Last Call” and “Kimmel” were encores, as were the Monday through Wednesday editions of “Late Late Show.”
On Tuesday, Jimmy Fallon delivered his biggest 18-49 audience for a regular episode so far this season with a special telecast from Chapel Hill, N.C. featuring President Obama, which delivered 853,000 adults 18-49 for a 0.7 rating in that key category. In total viewers, Tuesday’s telecast averaged 2.0 million persons, a 19 percent jump versus the 1.7 million the show has averaged this season in comparable “live plus same day” ratings.
Through the first 32 weeks of the season, "Tonight" has increased its total-viewer margin over "Late Show" to 15 percent (3.719 million vs. 3.228 million), up from the year-ago season-to-date advantage of 8 percent. Jimmy Fallon has also established a total-viewer lead over "Late Late Show" this season of 15 percent (1.767 million vs. 1.533 million), up from last year's advantage of 1 percent. Jimmy has also increased his season-to-date lead over "Late Late Show" in adults 18-34, to 39 percent (276,000 vs. 198,000) up from last year's 23 percent, and in adults 25-54, to 11 percent (867,000 vs. 784,000) up from 2 percent at this point last season.
"Tonight" delivered a bigger 18-49 audience than "Late Show" for the 16th time in 19 weeks while Jimmy Fallon attracted a bigger 18-49 audience than "Late Late Show" for a 22nd week in a row.
WEEKLY AVERAGES
(According to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of April 23-27. Ratings reflect “live plus same day” data from Nielsen Media Research 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.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Tonight,” 0.8 rating, 3 share
CBS “Late Show,” 0.7/3
11:35 p.m.-12 midnight ET
ABC “Nightline,” 0.9/4
12 midnight-1 a.m. ET
ABC “Kimmel,” 0.6/3*
12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Late Night,” 0.5/3*
CBS “Late Late Show,” 0.4/2*
1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC “Last Call,” 0.3/2*
TOTAL VIEWERS
11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Tonight,” 3.5 million viewers
CBS “Late Show,” 2.9 million viewers
11:35 p.m.-12 midnight ET
ABC “Nightline,” 3.9 million viewers
12 midnight-1 a.m. ET
ABC “Kimmel,” 1.9 million viewers*
12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Late Night,” 1.7 million viewers*
CBS “Late Late Show,” 1.4 million viewers*
1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC “Last Call,” 0.9 million viewers*
* Monday’s “Late Night,” Friday’s “Last Call” and “Kimmel” and the Monday-through-Wednesday telecasts of “Late Late Show” were encores.
SEASON TO DATE
ADULTS 18-49
11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Tonight,” 0.9 rating, 3 share
CBS “Late Show,” 0.8/3
11:35 p.m.-12 midnight ET
ABC “Nightline,” 0.9/3
12 midnight-1 a.m. ET
ABC “Kimmel,” 0.5/2
12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Late Night,” 0.6/3
CBS “Late Late Show,” 0.5/3
1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC “Last Call,” 0.3/2
TOTAL VIEWERS
11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Tonight,” 3.7 million viewers
CBS “Late Show,” 3.2 million viewers
11:35 p.m.-12 midnight ET
ABC “Nightline,” 3.9 million viewers
12 midnight-1 a.m. ET
ABC “Kimmel,” 1.8 million viewers
12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Late Night,” 1.8 million viewers
CBS “Late Late Show,” 1.5 million viewers
1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC “Last Call,” 1.0 million viewers
SELECTED CABLE RESULTS, WEEK OF APRIL 23-27
NATIONAL ADULT 18-49 RATING
Comedy Central, 11-11:30 p.m. ET, “The Daily Show,” 0.7
Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m.-midnight ET, “The Colbert Report,” 0.6
TBS, 11 p.m.-midnight, “Conan,” 0.5
Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 0.8
Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 0.6
Each adult 18-49 rating point equals 1.28 million viewers
TOTAL VIEWERS
Comedy Central, 11-11:30 p.m. “The Daily Show,” 1.6 million
Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m.-midnight ET, “The Colbert Report,” 1.2 million
TBS, 11 p.m.-midnight, “Conan,” 1.0 million
Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 2.0 million
Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 1.5 million
I never knew that Conan was doing better in the ratings than Ferguson. I wonder if part of the reason has to do with the lack of advertising for the show? The lack of promotion is even worse than how NBC advertised Late Night with Conan O’Brien.
Aaron, the two shows aren’t really competing. Conan ends 95 minutes earlier and his average lead-in is likely about 60% higher.
The whole late night battle is nothing but apples to oranges. Nightline is a half hour. Jay/Dave a full hour. Conan an half hour early full hour show on cable. Stewart a half hour at 11 not competing with the big boys. And the others are in the wee hours at night.
For me, GAR, it’s sufficiently apples-to-apples on Dave vs. Jay vs. Adult Swim vs. Nightline/1stHalfKimmel. And on Conan vs. the Stewart/Colbert Hour. And on Fallon vs. Ferguson.
I wonder if CBS will increase advertising for Craig Ferguson since he’s moving into a much larger studio.
I swear this whole bigger production for Ferguson is to see how he would do in replacing Letterman. It has to be. Large studio, bigger production, better budget, CBS as co-producers; this has to be CBS testing what they can get out of a 50 year old man not only in the ratings, but everything else that goes with being a big time late night hosts. Handling the guests, interaction with audience, etc.
Would Craig do more different bits with the new budget? Or would he do the same routine, except in a bigger studio?
I’ve noticed that Letterman hasn’t been repeating his monologues like he had been for a while. For months, he would do the same dang monologue every night. Wonder if CBS told him to stop with the new contract.
I’ve noticed that Letterman hasn’t been repeating his monologues like he had been for a while. For months, he would do the same dang monologue every night. Wonder if CBS told him to stop with the new contract.
I noticed that too last week, he stopped repeating the same jokes so much and the clips of Mitt Romney singing backwards and strapping his dog to the roof of his car were only there on some nights, not every night..
Conan is bleeding viewers from a great BBT lead in! I’d be shocked if TBS doesn’t dump him after 2014.
Sorry dude…Conan will be around after Leno is gone. Sweet justice.
Leno will have The Voice as his lead-in on Tuesday. Any substantial bump in numbers Tuesday? Rick Santorum is his first guest though, probably not exactly the type of audience The Voice viewers would watch.
type of **guest**
The Santorum booking is not only odd but bizarre. Can he be that hard up for guests? Sure, Leno’s ratings and fans have dropped, but the appearance is seemingly growing that he is toxic. Still a good place to sell your movie or show, right?
“The Santorum booking is not only odd but bizarre. Can he be that hard up for guests? Sure, Leno’s ratings and fans have dropped, but the appearance is seemingly growing that he is toxic.”
They had 5 first guests last week who were all top shelf. The Santorum booking is not about toxicity, it’s about about having a tin ear.
The idea of Leno as toxic is very passe. 2008 is never coming back for Jay, but neither is 2010. Now it’s just an innocuous and largely unnoticed coast to his 2014 cancellation, when some will gloat that he only lasted 22 years and was shown the door at the tender age of 64.
I’ve noticed that Letterman hasn’t been repeating his monologues, either. I think this move is for the positive cause it makes the show feel more fresh.
LOL…Ron Artest never showed up on Conan! I guess he figured no one would be watching him! LMAO!
Sure Mario, in your alternate world where Leno is funny…
To the extent that overnights reflect reality, little doubt that Kimmel beat Jay and Dave in the demo last night.
In other news, Bill Maher fondly recalls Johnny Carson’s ruthlessness:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/05/06/bill-maher-remembers-johnny-carson-20-years-later.html
Late last night Rick Santorum finally endorsed Mitt Romney. Perhaps NBC knew something no one else did?