NBC Late Night Outperforms Competition in Time Slot

By: Jan. 24, 2014
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"The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" have dominated the broadcast competition for the week of Jan. 13-17, delivering bigger audiences than their 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.

Leno and Fallon both generated gains versus the same week last year in viewers 18-49, viewers 18-34, viewers 25-54 and total viewers. "Tonight" was up 6% in viewers 18-49 (to 1.120 million from 1.053 million) and up 16% in total viewers (3.999 million vs. 3.459 million). "Late Night" was up 32% in 18-49 (835,000 vs. 633,000) and up 25% in total viewers (2.076 million vs. 1.656 million).

At 1:35 a.m. ET, "Last Call with Carson Daly" grew versus the same week last year by 13% in viewers 18-49 (396,000 vs. 352,000) and by 1% in total viewers (902,000 vs. 894,000).

Fallon generated his biggest weeklong 18-49 and total-viewer audiences since Thanksgiving week and biggest excluding weeks of NFL overruns in two-and-a-half years in 18-49 viewers and in four years in total viewers. "Late Night's" 794,000 viewers 18-49 was its biggest for a non-NFL week since June 20-24, 2011 (899,000) and the 2.076 million is Fallon's high with no NFL overrun since the week of Jan. 18-20, 2010 (2.162 million).

"Late Night" outdelivered CBS's "Late Late Show with David Letterman" and ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" for the week in viewers 18-49, viewers 18-34, viewers 25-54 and all key adult-male demos, despite starting an hour later. Fallon generated his biggest weeklong 18-49 advantage over Letterman in a non-NFL week since Jan. 18-22, 2010 and equaled his biggest advantage over Kimmel in a non-NFL week since that ABC show moved to an 11:35 p.m. start time a year ago.

Season to date, "Tonight" is off to its biggest start 17 weeks into a new TV season in three years in 18-49 viewers and total viewers. Fallon is delivering his biggest 18-49 audience 17 weeks into the season in three years and his top total-viewer average in the five years he's been hosting "Late Night."

Versus the first 17 weeks of the year-ago season, Leno is up 7% in 18-49 viewers (with 1.130 million vs. 1.053 million) and up 8% in total viewers (3.839 million vs. 3.543 million). Fallon is up 17% in 18-49 viewers (794,000 vs. 677,000) so far this season and up 15% in total viewers (1.961 million vs. 1.707 million).

"Last Call with Carson Daly" is also delivering sizable gains versus the first 17 weeks of last season, up 18% in 18-49 viewers (431,000 vs. 365,000) and up 10% in total viewers (964,000 vs. 873,000).

"Tonight" has now delivered bigger 18-49 audiences than "Late Show" for the last 61 weeks in a row and topped "Kimmel" for 50 of their 54 head-to-head weeks. In total viewers, Leno has out-delivered "Late Show" for 65 weeks in a row and "Kimmel" for 54 of 54 weeks.

Fallon has now generated bigger 18-49 audiences than "Late Late Show" for 66 of the last 67 weeks and prevailed in total viewers for 63 of the last 65 weeks. Versus "Nightline" in their head-to-head half-hour, Fallon has outdelivered the ABC series for 54 of 54 weeks in viewers 18-49 and 49 of 51 weeks in total viewers.

WEEKLY AVERAGES
(According to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of Jan. 13-17. 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," 0.6/3 *


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


12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 0.7/4
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," 4.0 million viewers
CBS "Late Show," 2.9 million viewers
ABC "Kimmel," 2.5 million viewers *


12:35-1:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Nightline," 1.5 million viewers


12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 2.1 million viewers
CBS "Late Late Show," 1.4 million viewers


1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.9 million viewers *

* Friday's "Last Call" and "Kimmel" 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," 0.3/2

TOTAL VIEWERS


11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 3.8 million viewers
CBS "Late Show," 2.9 million viewers
ABC "Kimmel," 2.6 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 JAN. 13-17


NATIONAL ADULT 18-49 RATING


Comedy Central, 11-11:30 p.m. ET, "The Daily Show," 0.6
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, 0.9
Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 0.7


Each adult 18-49 rating point equals 1.27 million viewers.


TOTAL VIEWERS

Comedy Central, 11-11:30 p.m. "The Daily Show," 1.5 million
Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m.-midnight ET, "The Colbert Report," 1.2 million

TBS, 11 p.m.-midnight, "Conan," 0.8 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, 1.4 million viewers



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