To see past week's Late Night TV ratings information click here.
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
Ferguson was on the wtf podcast http://www.wtfpod.com/ with Marc Maron.
When asked about taking over for Letterman he said: “I think when i watched what happened to Conan and all of that stuff, be careful with what you wish for, it lead to such unhappiness for everybody i think that having ambitions for Dave’s crown isn’t the way to happiness for me”
He also said that he isn’t involved in talks about it, but he believes that they do happen behind closed doors.
He also said that he wouldn’t want to happen to him what happened to Conan’s Tonight show where he tried to make a different show and it made him unhappy and ultimately unsuccessful.
It was a very interesting conversation similar to one he had with Kevin Pollak a couple of years ago.
Not late night related, but TBS picked up Cougar Town.
“It is sad though, now his late night buddies like Stewart, Colbert, and O’Brien all know that they aren’t considered great interviews.”
Here’s an alternative take. If he called those guys, it would feel like gloating “I got the President and you didn’t.” Stern isn’t a candidate to interview the President and Leno’s had him on 4 times, so you could call them without it seeming like a supermodel who bemoans how hard it is to be beautiful.
Drum, I guess there’s really no other answer a guy in Craig’s position can give. Dave said nearly the exact same thing in the 80s about the Tonight Show. Insisted he doesn’t ever want to host it.
So Craig doesn’t aspire to Dave’s crown, yet negotiated a clause in his deal that he gets Dave’s show if Dave has to abdicate. Given the choice of believing words or actions, I’ll take actions.
What if Craig DOES aspire to Dave’s crown? Is that a crime?
Nope. And I’m pretty sure he does aspire to it.