'THE TONIGHT SHOW,' 'LATE NIGHT' Dominate Premiere Week

NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" have delivered their biggest premiere-week audiences in adults 18-49 in three years.

Leno and Fallon have launched their 2013-14 seasons with dominant wins Versus their broadcast time-period competition for the week of Sept. 23-27, generating bigger audiences than their slot rivals in adults 18-49, total viewers and all other key measures. Note: Monday's "Late Night" and Friday's "Kimmel" were encores.

Both "The Tonight Show" and "Late Night" were up Versus premiere week last year in every key ratings measure while Fallon generated his biggest overall audience for any of his five season-premiere weeks to date.

"The Tonight Show" jumped 29% Versus last year's premiere week in 18-49 viewers (to 1.205 million from 935,000) for its top week-one result since 2010. "Late Night" was also up 29% (764,000 vs. 591,000) for its biggest 18-49 audience since 2010.

In total viewers, Leno was up 12% (3.678 million vs. 3.296 million) for his biggest premiere-week audience since 2010. Fallon was up 19% (1.836 million vs. 1.539 million) for his biggest week-one viewership since taking over "Late Night" in 2009.

"The Tonight Show" has now delivered bigger 18-49 audiences than "Late Show" for the last 45 weeks in a row and topped "Kimmel" for 35 of their 38 head-to-head weeks. In total viewers, Leno has out-delivered "Late Show" for 49 weeks in a row and "Kimmel" for 38 of 38 weeks.

Fallon has now generated bigger 18-49 audiences than "Late Late Show" for 50 of the last 51 weeks and prevailed in total viewers for 47 of the last 49 weeks. Versus "Nightline" in their head-to-head half-hour, Fallon has out-delivered the ABC series for 38 of 38 weeks in viewers 18-49 and 23 weeks in a row in total viewers.

For the premiere week of Sept. 23-27, encore telecasts of "Last Call with Carson Daly" generated the show's biggest 18-49 audience (474,000) and biggest overall audience (1.028 million) in more than a year, since the week of Sept. 3-7, 2012.

For a second week in a row, "Last Call" encores edged originals of CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" in viewers 18-49, even though "Late Late Show" starts an hour earlier. For the week of Sept. 23-27, "Last Call" held the edge by 474,000 to 470,000 and for the week of Sept. 16-20, "Last Call" prevailed in that comparison by 352,000 to 348,000.

WEEKLY AVERAGES

(According to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of Sept. 23-27. 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," 0.6/4 *
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," 3.7 million viewers
CBS "Late Show," 3.1 million viewers
ABC "Kimmel," 2.4 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," 1.8 million viewers *
CBS "Late Late Show," 1.5 million viewers

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

* Monday's "Late Night" and Friday's "Kimmel" were encores, as was the full week of "Last Call."

SELECTED CABLE RESULTS, WEEK OF SEPT. 23-27

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," 0.6 **

TBS, 11 p.m.-midnight, "Conan," 0.5

Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 0.9
Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 0.6

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," 0.9 million viewers

Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 1.8 million viewers
Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 1.2 million viewers

** Monday's Comedy Central telecasts were encores.

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