NBC Late Night Continues to Dominate Broadcast Competition

NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" have dominated the broadcast competition for the late-night ratings week of Nov. 4-8, with Leno scoring a six-week high in viewers 18-49 and Fallon generating his biggest 18-49 audience in 14 months.

For the week, Leno delivered bigger audiences than CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman" in all key categories and beat ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in adults 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54; men 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54; women 18-49 and 25-54; plus total viewers. Fallon out-delivered CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" and ABC's "Nightline" in all key categories. Note that Friday's "Kimmel" was an encore.

"Tonight's" 18-49 audience of 1.152 million was its biggest since the week of Sept. 23-27, while "Late Night's" 799,000 was its largest since Sept. 3-7, 2012, the week of a big NFL Primetime overrun. Excluding weeks of NFL overruns, it was Fallon's biggest weeklong 18-49 audience since June 20-24, 2011.

At 1:35 a.m. ET, "Last Call with Carson Daly" delivered its biggest 18-49 audience (537,000) since Sept. 3-7, 2012, and excluding weeks of NFL overruns, Daly's week also goes back to June 20-24, 2011, the penultimate week of the first "Voice" cycle.

"Late Night's" week was highlighted by a Monday, Nov. 4 telecast featuring Simon Baker, Senator John McCain, and musical guest The Dismemberment Plan, which averaged 1.008 million adults 18-49, Fallon's biggest nightly 18-49 audience on a night without an NFL or Olympics Primetime lead-in since Tuesday, April 26, 2011 (1.061 million).

Despite his later start time, Fallon convincingly out-delivered CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman" in adults 18-49 last week, 799,000 to 700,000, generating "Late Night's" biggest margin over "Late Show" since the week of Jan. 18-22, 2010, when the margin was 144,000.

Season to date, Leno is off to his biggest start seven weeks into a new TV season in three years in 18-49 viewers and total viewers, while Fallon is at a four-year high in 18-49 and has generated his biggest overall audience seven weeks into a new season in the five years he's been hosting "Late Night."

Versus the first seven weeks of the year-ago season, Leno is up 12% in 18-49 viewers (with 1.117 million vs. 1.001 million) and up 8% in total viewers (3.662 million vs. 3.402 million). Fallon is up 23% in 18-49 viewers (798,000 vs. 651,000) so far this season and up 17% in total viewers (1.907 million vs. 1.633 million).

At 1:35 a.m. ET, "Last Call with Carson Daly" is also delivering sizable gains Versus the first seven weeks of last season, up 22% in 18-49 viewers (445,000 vs. 366,000) and up 12% in total viewers (977,000 vs. 874,000).

WEEKLY AVERAGES

(According to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of Nov. 4-8. 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," 0.6/2
ABC "Kimmel," 0.7/3 *

12:35-1:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Nightline," 0.5/3

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," 2.8 million viewers
ABC "Kimmel," 2.7 million viewers *

12:35-1:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Nightline," 1.8 million viewers

12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 1.9 million viewers
CBS "Late Late Show," 1.4 million viewers

1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 1.1 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," 0.6/2
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," 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," 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

SELECTED CABLE RESULTS, WEEK OF OCT. 28-NOV. 1

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

Comedy Central, midnight-12:30 a.m. ET, "@Midnight." 0.4

TBS, 11 p.m.-midnight, "Conan," 0.4

TBS, Midnight-12:30 a.m., "Pete Holmes," 0.2

Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 1.0
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," 1.1 million

Comedy Central, midnight-12:30 a.m. ET, "@Midnight," 0.6 million

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

TBS, Midnight-12:30 a.m., "Pete Holmes," 0.4 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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