To see past weeks' Late Night TV ratings information click here.
Via NBC's Press Release
'Tonight Show' AND 'LATE NIGHT' DELIVER #1 FINISHES AND LENGTHEN YEAR-AGO LEADS TO OPEN THE 2012-13 SEASON
JAY LENO AND JIMMY FALLON GENERATE BIGGER AUDIENCES THAN THE ABC AND CBS SLOT COMPETITION IN 18-49 AND TOTAL VIEWERS
JAY LENO LENGTHENS HIS LEADS OVER 'Late Show' VS. PREMIERE WEEK LAST YEAR IN VIEWERS 18-49, 18-34 AND 25-54; TOPS 'Late Show' FOR THE WEEK IN EVERY KEY MEASURE
JIMMY FALLON INCREASES HIS YEAR-AGO LEAD IN VIEWERS 18-49 AND OUT-DELIVERS 'LATE Late Show' IN EVERY KEY CATEGORY: ADULTS, MEN AND WOMEN 18-34, 18-49 AND 25-54, PLUS TOTAL VIEWERS
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – October 4, 2012 – NBC’s late-night stars have opened the 2012-13 television season with #1 finishes for the week of September 24-28 versus the ABC and CBS time-period competition, as "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" delivered bigger audiences in adults 18-49 and total viewers than CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman" and ABC's combination in that hour of "Nightline" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," while "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" topped CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" and "Kimmel" in their head-to-head half-hour. Note that "Tonight" and "Late Show" both rounded to a 0.7 rating in adults 18-49 for the week, while Jay delivered a bigger audience in that category. Monday's "Late Night" and Friday's "Kimmel" were encores.
Versus last year's premiere week, Jay increased his lead over "Late Show" in viewers 18-49, 18-34 and 25-54. For the week, Jay delivered bigger audiences than "Late Late Show" in all key categories: adults, men and women 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54, plus total viewers.
At 12:35 a.m. ET, Jimmy Fallon also stretched his year-ago margin over "Late Late Show" in 18-49 viewers and generated bigger audiences than "Late Late Show" in every key category.
For the first week of the new season, "Tonight" increased its viewers 18-49 margin over "Late Show" to 8 percent (935,000 vs. 865,000), up from the year-ago premiere-week advantage of 2 percent, while stretching its 25-54 advantage to 7 percent (1.213 million vs. 1.130 million) from last year’s 5 percent and its 18-34 lead to 27 percent (335,000 vs. 263,000) from last year’s 19 percent. Jimmy Fallon delivered a viewers 18-49 lead over "Late Late Show" of 22 percent (591,000 vs. 485,000), up from last year's advantage of 14 percent.
"Tonight" delivered a bigger 18-49 audience than "Late Show" for the 35th time in their last 39 head-to-head weeks (excludes weeks of Olympic preemptions) and 17th week in a row, while Jimmy Fallon has attracted a bigger 18-49 audience than "Late Late Show" for each of their last 42 head-to-head weeks.
WEEKLY AVERAGES
(According to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of September 24-28. 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," 0.7 rating, 3 share
CBS "Late Show," 0.7/3
11:35 p.m.-12 midnight ET
ABC "Nightline," 0.8/3
12 midnight-1 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 0.5/2*
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," 3.3 million viewers
CBS "Late Show," 3.0 million viewers
11:35 p.m.-12 midnight ET
ABC "Nightline," 3.6 million viewers
12 midnight-1 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 1.8 million viewers*
12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 1.5 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" and "Last Call" and Friday’s "Kimmel" were encores
SELECTED CABLE RESULTS, WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 24-28
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," 0.5**
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, 0.5
Each adult 18-49 rating point equals 1.27 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," 1.1 million**
TBS, 11 p.m.-midnight, "Conan," 0.9 million
Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 1.8 million
Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 1.2 million
** Monday’s "Daily Show" and "Colbert Report" were encores.
Mario, I never said it helps Conan, just an interesting observation. Also, the baseball playoffs is one of the biggest events in American sports. Oh wait, it must be boring because it’s on a network that has Conan.
What the heck? I thought Eroll and Ellie were both blocked?
If anybody thought those Conan commercials for the playoffs were funny are truly dedicated fans. I thought they were crap and didn’t show what Conan has been doing at TBS. They should just keep throwing up highlights from his show.
I never really thought about it but Fallon really isnt Letterman-like at all. I think he just respects Letterman and liked what he did with the money and studio he had.
Brad, Fallon is a guy who will tell just about any longtime celebrity in his presence that they’re “awesome” and “the best” and “I totally learned so much from watching you”. It’s so much his trademark that he parodied it on SNL.
Good luck in your campaign!
Aaron said, “Monikka, do you think it’s possible that Letterman is jealous of Ferguson’s bond with Peter Lassally?”
I think it’s not only possible but probable. I doubt Ferguson is as friendly as his late night persona would lead us to believe but people seem to take to him. Letterman is famously anti-social and I don’t think it’s entirely by choice, i.e. there may be psychological damage there. Contrary to our impressions from the long-time Thanksgiving pie bit and his mother’s reports from the Olympics years ago, Letterman has said in interviews that his mother is a very cold woman.
Peter Lassally’s mentoring of Letterman in his move to CBS was monumental for Letterman. Is Lassally a father figure? Has Ferguson usurped Letterman’s place in Lassally’s affections? I don’t know.
Thanks Gary. And yes, Fallon is the biggest suck up of them all. I think bigger than Leno (gasp!) but the difference between them is Fallon will actually do something with his guest, a game or activity, Leno just wants to get through the interview alive.
I’m trying to hold my tongue about Ferguson. As you can tell I have mixed feelings about him. But about Lassally, I think he is the key to Ferguson’s future. He has been very loyal to CBS even when their other producer for Letterman, Robert Morton, was trying to make the switch to ABC, Lassally stood by CBS and has done great work for them with Worldwide Pants. So while they can trust Lassally, and hold him in high regards, they also know he is great at seeking out talent. If he thinks Ferguson can be an 11:30 guy, they will take his word for it.
Monikka, I’ve also heard that he had the fear of losing his dad when he was growing up since his father had heart problems.
Sounds like Letterman has a problem of getting close to people thinking that one day they’ll just leave him. Explains why he takes interest in seeing multiple women and waited so long to marry his longtime girlfriend. His mom would then be perceived as cold if all Letterman does is distance himself from everyone and everything. It all makes sense now.
Aaron baseball is just boring with or without Conan!
Ball…strike…foul…..ZZZZZZZZ!
That’s why baseball ratings have tanked since their peak in the 70s!
Football ratings is where baseball use to be, but its the freaking playoffs and TBS will get good ratings from it.
Any predictions on if you think this week will be another virtual tie between Jay and Dave?
Jay will beat Dave like he usually does!
Leno is da man! Da king!
“Any predictions on if you think this week will be another virtual tie between Jay and Dave?”
We have seen and will see some photo finishes, Douglas, but I don’t think last week was one of them. 8% is a legit margin of defeat for Dave, who is off to a very rough start considering his number was Obama-assisted.
With NBC doing significantly better in the ratings this fall versus last fall, and with Leno able to thrive of good primetime ratings unlike Letterman, I think Leno will be able to beat Letterman this week. I think the only way Letterman can win is with big name assistance. If or when Romney comes to The Late Show, I don’t see much winning for Letterman.
The Yankees games on TBS has been in a rain delay for 90 mins now, so what did TBS do, they had their broadcasters turn it over to a The Big Bang Theory episode. Where would that station be without that series.
I think Ferguson is funnier with Jay. Every time Ferguson goes on Letterman its like awkward central as they have zero on screen chemistry. At least Jay and Ferg can chat about how much they do stand up comedy. He was on I think last year and half of that was talking about stand up.
For those interested, the CBS lead-in average at 10 pm last week was just 21% higher than NBC’s. In the past it could be 60% to 80% higher. The difference is all on Mondays, where Revolution is destroying Hawaii 5-0.
For the first time since that started, Jay seems to have a fairly high profile Monday booking in Arnold Schwarzenegger. Let’s see if he can notch a 1.0 in the overnights for that. Just a couple of years ago, a lead-in that big would’ve meant a 1.2, but time marches on.
Ferguson with Jay last year. I still think its funnier at least. Oddly he promoted the movie with him before Letterman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UtGRwoqRb0
GARebelman,
It’s simple. Leno is in LA. It’s a much greater logistical effort for Ferguson to appear on Letterman’s show in NYC.
That said, it’s true that the Ferguson/Leno relationship is far more simpatico.
Ferguson booked Jay Leno http://www.1iota.com/show/view/The_Late_Late_Show_with_Craig_Ferguson