TONIGHT SHOW, LATE NIGHT Come Out on Top in Ratings for 10/22-10/26

By: Nov. 02, 2012
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NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" have generated seven-week highs to finish #1 for the late-night week of October 22-26 with bigger audiences than the time-period competition on ABC and CBS in every key category: adults, men and women 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54, plus total viewers.

Wednesday's "Tonight Show," which featured as guest President Barack Obama, averaged 4.6 million viewers, the most for a Wednesday telecast of "Tonight" since March 23, 2011. That Wednesday result helped boost "Tonight" and "Late Night" to their biggest weekly adult 18-49 audiences (1.1 million and 675,000 viewers respectively) since September 3-7, the week of the Democratic National Convention. In total viewers, it's the top "Tonight' week (3.7 million) since July 23-27, which included the high-rated night of the London Olympics Opening Ceremony.

Through the first five weeks of the 2012-13 season, "Tonight" has stretched its leads versus one year ago over CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman" in viewers 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54. In viewers 18-49, "Tonight" has established a margin over "Late Show" of 9 percent (981,000 vs. 900,000), eliminating last year's "Late Show" advantage of 2 percent. Jay has also generated a 25-54 advantage this season of 6 percent (1.249 million vs. 1.182 million) after trailing by 1 percent at this point last year, while stretching his 18-34 lead to 25 percent (340,000 vs. 273,000), up from last year's 9 percent.

WEEKLY AVERAGES
(According to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of October 22-26. 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," 0.7/3
11:35 p.m.-12 midnight ET
ABC "Nightline," 0.9/3
12 midnight-1 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 0.5/3*
12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 0.5/3
CBS "Late Late Show," 0.4/2
1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.3/2 (in encore telecasts)*

TOTAL VIEWERS
11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 3.7 million viewers
CBS "Late Show," 3.2 million viewers
11:35 p.m.-12 midnight ET
ABC "Nightline," 3.9 million viewers
12 midnight-1 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 1.9 million viewers*
12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 1.7 million viewers
CBS "Late Late Show," 1.5 million viewers
1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.9 million viewers (in encore telecasts)*

* "Kimmel" was an encore on Monday and Friday. Monday's "Last Call" was an original.

SEASON TO DATE

ADULTS 18-49
11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 0.8 rating, 3 share
CBS "Late Show," 0.7/3
11:35 p.m.-12 midnight ET
ABC "Nightline," 0.8/3
12 midnight-1 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 0.5/3
12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 0.5/3
CBS "Late Late Show," 0.4/3
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," 3.3 million viewers
CBS "Late Show," 3.0 million viewers
11:35 p.m.-12 midnight ET
ABC "Nightline," 3.8 million viewers
12 midnight-1 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 1.9 million viewers
12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 1.6 million viewers
CBS "Late Late Show," 1.5 million viewers
1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.9 million viewers

SELECTED CABLE RESULTS, WEEK OF OCTOBER 22-26

NATIONAL ADULT 18-49 RATING
Comedy Central, 11-11:30 p.m. ET, "The Daily Show," 0.9
Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m.-midnight ET, "The Colbert Report," 0.7
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," 2.0 million
Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m.-midnight ET, "The Colbert Report," 1.5 million
TBS, 11 p.m.-midnight, "Conan," 0.9 million
Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 1.9 million
Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 1.2 million



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