NBC's Late Night Continues to Dominate Timeslot

By: Dec. 19, 2013
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"The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" have dominated the broadcast competition for the late-night ratings week of Dec. 9-13.

Both programs delivered bigger audiences than their respective ABC and CBS time-period rivals in every key ratings category - adults, men and women, 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54, plus total viewers.

Versus the same week last year, Leno is up 14% in 18-49 viewers (to 1.094 million from 958,000), Fallon is up 37% (772,000 vs. 565,000) and "Last Call with Carson Daly" also grew by 37% (446,000 vs. 326,000). In total viewers, "The Tonight Show" topped its audience for the year-ago week by 17% (3.850 million vs. 3.294 million), "Late Night" was up by 24% (1.911 million vs. 1.547 million) and "Last Call" also increased by 24% (1.007 million vs. 812,000).

Season to date, "The Tonight Show" is off to its biggest start 12 weeks into a new TV season in three years in 18-49 viewers and in five years in total viewers. Fallon is delivering his biggest 18-49 and total-viewer audiences 12 weeks into the season in the five years he's been hosting "Late Night."

Versus the first 12 weeks of the year-ago season, Leno is up 11% in 18-49 viewers (with 1.133 million vs. 1.025 million) and up 10% in total viewers (3.821 million vs. 3.465 million). Fallon is up 23% in 18-49 viewers (806,000 vs. 657,000) so far this season and up 19% in total viewers (1.964 million vs. 1.656 million).

At 1:35 a.m. ET, "Last Call with Carson Daly" is also delivering sizable gains versus the first 12 weeks of last season, up 21% in 18-49 viewers (441,000 vs. 365,000) and up 12% in total viewers (980,000 vs. 876,000).

"The Tonight Show" has now delivered bigger 18-49 audiences than "Late Show with David Letterman" for the last 56 weeks in a row and topped "Jimmy Kimmel Live" for 45 of their 49 head-to-head weeks. In total viewers, Leno has out-delivered "Late Show" for 60 weeks in a row and "Kimmel" for 49 of 49 weeks.

Fallon has now generated bigger 18-49 audiences than "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" for 61 of the last 62 weeks and prevailed in total viewers for 58 of the last 60 weeks. Versus "Nightline" in their head-to-head half-hour, Fallon has outdelivered the ABC series for 49 of 49 weeks in viewers 18-49 and 44 of 46 weeks in total viewers.

WEEKLY AVERAGES

(According to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of Dec. 9-13. 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," 0.9 rating, 4 share
CBS "Late Show," 0.6/3
ABC "Kimmel," 0.7/3 *

12:35-1:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Nightline," 0.4/2

12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 0.6/3
CBS "Late Late Show," 0.4/2

1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.4/3 *

TOTAL VIEWERS

11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 3.9 million viewers
CBS "Late Show," 3.1 million viewers
ABC "Kimmel," 2.6 million viewers *

12:35-1:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Nightline," 1.6 million viewers

12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 1.9 million viewers
CBS "Late Late Show," 1.5 million viewers

1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 1.0 million viewers *

* Friday's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and "Last Call With Carson Daly" were encores.

SEASON TO DATE

ADULTS 18-49

11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 0.9 rating, 4 share
CBS "Late Show," 0.6/3
ABC "Kimmel," 0.7/3

12:35-1:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Nightline," 0.4/2

12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 0.6/4
CBS "Late Late Show," 0.4/2

1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.3/3

TOTAL VIEWERS

11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 3.8 million viewers
CBS "Late Show," 3.0 million viewers
ABC "Kimmel," 2.7 million viewers

12:35-1:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Nightline," 1.7 million viewers

12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 2.0 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 DEC. 9-13

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," 0.4

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," 1.3 million

TBS, 11 p.m.-midnight, "Conan," 0.7 million

Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 1.9 million viewers
Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 1.1 million viewers



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