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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.
I do believe Ferguson and Leno are pals to a certain degree. Leno wouldn’t work with you otherwise. He did After Lately with Chelsea Handler. He visited Real Time with Bill Maher during his 2009 break prior to The Jay Leno Show. There was also the Jerry Seinfeld commercial. Now he will be going onto Ferguson’s The Late Late Show.
I do think it’ll be a good interview. What it will be about I’m not sure. I don’t really want to guess because I don’t want to get my expectations up, but I don’t think it will be about cars. Ferguson isn’t a car guy as far as I know.
Is Leno liked by Colbert and Stewart?
Don’t forget Leno also did Kimmel’s show in 2008 when it appeared like Leno was losing his show to Conan and Leno might go to ABC. Kimmel had a great line and said he would ask Jay if he can be the announcer if Jay went to ABC! LMAO!
“Is Leno liked by Colbert and Stewart?”
Nope!
Mario, that was before the whole Tonight Show fiasco happened.
Aaron, that’s correct. That’s why I said 2008!
Conan stole the Tonight Show in 2009!
Stewart and Colbert don’t like Jay along with the obvious Letterman and Kimmel and Conan
The like list is Ferguson, Fallon, Chelsea Handler, Bill Maher (who publically bashed Letterman and Conan for being self entitled), Wanda Sykes as well as Louis CK
More on each list but that’s a start
I don’t think Fallon, Ferguson and Louis CK are one-siders. I think they like and can work with both Conan and Jay.
Agreed Diana. Was pointing out they don’t hate the other and pick a side.
“Conan stole the Tonight Show in 2009!”
Mario, you know full well nobody stole anything from anybody in all of these late night dealings. Everything happened according to contracts signed by NBC and the respective parties. If there had been any breaches of contract, you would have seen it played out in court. The promotion of Conan to The Tonight Show, and the plan to move it pass midnight, were all within the framework of legally binding contracts.
If you are going to post here, please have a little more credibility in your statements.
Okay. But why don’t they like him? Is it because they have a deep relationship with Conan? What about before the whole debacle? What was the reason then?
I agree with Diana but Id go to say I think a lot of this hate is just talk. I’m sure these guys would work together given right time and opportunity.
“So you can’t blow this off, Mitt. Im telling you, with every fiber of my being: if you want to go to the White House — not on the tour — you have to come here and shut me up,” Letterman says into the camera. “You’ve gotta prove that I’m a dumbass punk and you’ve gotta come here and do it now… Because we wouldn’t want anything to go the wrong way.” – David Letterman.
You can hear from Letterman’s mouth here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN4DaSKT6f4
A desperate plea for a ratings boost and proof to CBS that he’s their 11:30 man?
“Okay. But why don’t they like him? Is it because they have a deep relationship with Conan? What about before the whole debacle? What was the reason then?”
They come from a different side of the hipness fence.
I hear ya Gary. In short, they think he’s lame.
In the late night fraternity, I don’t think there is much hatred among its members, although there is obviously some dislike between Jimmy Kimmel and Jay Leno. But even with those two in the name of better ratings that hatchet would be buried in a heartbeat.
Jay Leno may be a dismal and wretched host, but he makes a terrific guest (except on Oprah). When he’s a guest, he turns the funny on, which he turns off when he’s on his show. Would be nice if Leno would resurrect his “My Beef” rants, as they’re hysterical. Plus, he needs to start building some exposure, as we all expect he’s heading out the door relatively soon.
Maybe Craig will bring up “What’s my beef”.
And Letterman wonders why his numbers stay low if all he is going to do now is bash Romney until November and practically beg him to show up on his show.
I think Dave wearing his politics on his sleeve probably does hurt him slightly in the ratings . . . but he knows what he’s doing with Romney. No publicity is bad publicity . . . Romney and Dave know that they both win when Mitt comes on. Dave might ask pointed questions but won’t flat out attack a guest on his show.