TONIGHT SHOW Dominates Week with Biggest Margin of Season in Key Demo

TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON has dominated the ratings week of Nov. 20-24 in the key late-night demographic of adults 18-49, with "Tonight's" biggest margin over #2 so far this season, according to "live plus same day" results from Nielsen Media Research. "Tonight's" 0.77 rating for the week is a 10-month high for the show (best since the week of Jan. 9-13, 0.81) and in total viewers, the average 2.996 million is an eight-month high (most since March 13-17, 3.072 million).

For the week, "Tonight" generated a +48% margin of victory in adult 18-49 rating versus CBS' "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" (with a 0.77 rating vs. a 0.52), "Tonight's" biggest margin of victory in 18-49 this season versus "Colbert" originals. "Tonight" last delivered a bigger advantage with a +76% margin the week of Sept. 4-8 (0.74 vs. 0.42).

Note that CBS excluded its Thursday and Friday results last week due to the Thanksgiving holiday and NBC excluded its Friday ratings.

Pacing the strong "Tonight Show" week was the Thanksgiving night telecast (delayed by a primetime NFL overrun), which averaged a 1.13 rating in 18-49, "Tonight's" highest since Thursday, Sept. 7 (1.17 on the opening night of the NFL season), and 3.894 million viewers, "Tonight's" best in 10 months (since Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017 with guest Michelle Obama, 4.090 million).

Thanksgiving was also a big night for "Late Night with Seth Meyers" (0.69 in 18-49, 2.230 million viewers overall) and "Last Call will Carson Daly" (0.43 in 18-49, 1.353 million viewers with an encore), both of which generated their highest 18-49 ratings in the past year (since Thanksgiving, Nov. 24, 2016, 0.76 for Meyers and 0.47 for Daly) and biggest overall audiences in the past two years (since Thanksgiving, Nov. 26, 2015, 2.564 million for Meyers, 1.678 million for Daly).

For the week, Meyers' 0.42 rating in 18-49 and Daly's 0.27 were their highest in 11 months (since Dec. 19-23, 2016, 0.47 for Meyers, 0.27 for Daly).

In total viewers, "Late Night's" 1.598 million was also its top weekly average since Dec. 19-23, 2016 (1.712 million), while "Last Call" delivered 934,000, its biggest total-viewer week since Dec. 12-16, 2016 (979,000).

LATE-NIGHT WEEKLY AVERAGES (According to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of Nov. 20-24. 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.")

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