via press release:
With its Best Performance since November 2008, ABC is Late-Night’s
No. 1 Network among Adults 18-49 for the 10th Straight Week
Ranking as Late-Night’s No. 1 Program, ABC’s “Nightline”
Hits Multi-Month Highs Across All 3 Target Demos
ABC's “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Posts its Best Adult 18-49 Number Since October 2007
Marking its First-Ever Victory Over NBC’s “Tonight Show,”
ABC's “JKL” is Late-Night’s No. 1 Broadcast Talk Show in Adults 18-49
ABC Late-Night (Monday – Friday)
During the week of June 11, 2012, ABC turned in its 2nd-most-watched week (2.592 million) in late-night this season, while scoring its best number among Adults 18-49 (1.116 million). In fact, this week marked ABC’s strongest young adult performance in late-night in 3-1/2 years – since the week of 11/3/08. Together, “Nightline” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” form ABC’s winning late-night strategy of airing news and entertainment programming.
ABC stood as the No. 1 network in late-night in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, marking its 20th win in the 39 weeks of the season and claiming the most number of victories in late-night on both Nielsen measures.
- Late-night’s most-watched network for the 4th week running, ABC (2.592 million) increased its leads over CBS to 31% (1.981 million) and NBC to 20% (2.158 million), from 17% and 2%, respectively, the prior week.
- ABC also ranked as the No. 1 network in late-night in Adults 18-49 (1.116 million) for the 10th week running, beating CBS (+73% - 644,000) and NBC (+68% - 665,000) by its largest margins ever.
“Nightline” (Monday – Friday)
For the week of June 11, 2012, ABC’s “Nightline” finished as late-night’s No. 1 in all 3 target demos: Total Viewers (4.065 million), Adults 25-54 (1.695 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.569 million), according to Nielsen Media Research. “Nightline” has taken the top spot in late-night in all 3 measures in 11 of the last 12 weeks.
Hitting multi-month highs across-the-board, “Nightline” scored its strongest performance in Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 in 5 months and best Adults 18-49 number in 7 months – since w/o 1/16/12 and w/o 11/21/11, respectively. In fact, it was the late-night program’s 2nd-highest Adults 18-49 audience of the season.
“Nightline” has taken the No. 1 position in 27 weeks in Total Viewers, 32 weeks in Adults 25-54 and 31 weeks in Adults 18-49 of the 39 weeks of the season to date.
“Nightline’s” Friday telecast (6/15/12), featuring a segment on Nik Wallenda, stood as late-night’s most-watched telecast (4.550 million) of the week. In addition, “Nightline’s” Tuesday airing (6/12/12) ranked as the top late-night telecast of the week in Adults 25-54 (2.118 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.143 million). In fact, in Adults 18-49, it was the ABC programs’ top performance in nearly 4 years (since 11/4/08) and best late-night telecast in over 2 years (since a “The Tonight Show” airing on 1/22/10).
Season to date, “Nightline” ranks No. 1 in late-night among Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49, ahead of both NBC’s “The Tonight Show” and CBS’ “The Late Show.” This marks the 2nd straight season that the ABC program is taking the top spot in all 3 Nielsen measures.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live” (Monday – Friday)
During the week of June 11, 2012, ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” jumped over the prior week by 20% in Total Viewers (1.999 million vs. 1.666 million) to mark its biggest-ever summertime audience. “JKL” also surged week to week by 46% in Adults 18-49 (934,000 vs. 638,000) to deliver its best performance in nearly 5 years – since the week of 10/22/07.
- ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” stood as the No. 1 broadcast talk show in late-night during the week in Adults 18-49 (934,000).
- Despite the later time period, ABC’s “JKL” (M-F 12:00 a.m.) beat NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” (M-F 11:35 p.m.) by 2% in Adults 18-49 (934,000 vs. 917,000) during the week, marking “JKL’s” first-ever weekly victory over the NBC late-night program.
- Again, despite its later start time, ABC’s “JKL” defeated CBS’ “The Late Show with David Letterman” (M-F 11:35 p.m.) by 14% in Adults 18-49 (934,000 vs. 818,000).
- ABC’s “JKL” led NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” (M-F 12:35 a.m.) by 22% in Total Viewers (1.999 million vs. 1.639 million) and a best-ever 54% in Adults 18-49 (934,000 vs. 605,000), marking “JKL’s” 12th consecutive win over the NBC late-night program in both viewers and young adults.
- ABC’s “JKL” outperformed CBS’ “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” (M-F 12:35 a.m.) by an impressive 51% in Total Viewers (1.999 million vs. 1.324 million), drawing a larger overall audience than the CBS program in 38 of the 39 weeks of the season. In addition, “JKL” nearly doubled the Adult 18-49 delivery of “Ferguson” (+97%), marking its largest-ever lead over the CBS program.
- Similar to ABC’s “Nightline,” which featured a segment on Nik Wallenda on Friday (6/15/12), “JKL” also delivered a strong performance on the night, as Friday’s telecast (2.152 million) posted the show’s most-watched repeat on any night in over 3 years – since Tuesday, 5/19/09.
Late-Night Rank (Week of June 11): TOTAL VIEWERS A18-49(000)
ABC 2,592,000 1,116,000
CBS 1,981,000 644,000
NBC 2,158,000 665,000
Note: Due to Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Championship, NBC re-titled “Tonight Show, “Fallon” and “Carson Daly” on Monday (6/11), and were excluded from their weekly averages. ABC’s and CBS’ weekly averages are based on five days, while NBC’s weekly average was based on four days (Tues-Fri).
