TONIGHT SHOW, LATE NIGHT Finish On Top, Lengthen Year-Old Leads to Open 2012-2013 Season

NBC’s late-night stars have opened the 2012-13 television season with #1 finishes for the week of September 24-28 versus the ABC and CBS time-period competition, as "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" delivered bigger audiences in adults 18-49 and total viewers than CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman" and ABC's combination in that hour of "Nightline" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," while "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" topped CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" and "Kimmel" in their head-to-head half-hour. Note that "Tonight" and "Late Show" both rounded to a 0.7 rating in adults 18-49 for the week, while Jay delivered a bigger audience in that category. Monday's "Late Night" and Friday's "Kimmel" were encores.

Versus last year's premiere week, Jay increased his lead over "Late Show" in viewers 18-49, 18-34 and 25-54. For the week, Jay delivered bigger audiences than "Late Late Show" in all key categories: adults, men and women 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54, plus total viewers.

At 12:35 a.m. ET, Jimmy Fallon also stretched his year-ago margin over "Late Late Show" in 18-49 viewers and generated bigger audiences than "Late Late Show" in every key category.

For the first week of the new season, "Tonight" increased its viewers 18-49 margin over "Late Show" to 8 percent (935,000 vs. 865,000), up from the year-ago premiere-week advantage of 2 percent, while stretching its 25-54 advantage to 7 percent (1.213 million vs. 1.130 million) from last year’s 5 percent and its 18-34 lead to 27 percent (335,000 vs. 263,000) from last year’s 19 percent. Jimmy Fallon delivered a viewers 18-49 lead over "Late Late Show" of 22 percent (591,000 vs. 485,000), up from last year's advantage of 14 percent.

"Tonight" delivered a bigger 18-49 audience than "Late Show" for the 35th time in their last 39 head-to-head weeks (excludes weeks of Olympic preemptions) and 17th week in a row, while Jimmy Fallon has attracted a bigger 18-49 audience than "Late Late Show" for each of their last 42 head-to-head weeks.

WEEKLY AVERAGES

(According to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of September 24-28. 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," 0.7 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," 0.5/2*

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*

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," 3.6 million viewers

12 midnight-1 a.m. ET

ABC "Kimmel," 1.8 million viewers*

12:35-1:35 a.m. ET

NBC "Late Night," 1.5 million viewers*

CBS "Late Late Show," 1.4 million viewers

1:35-2:05 a.m. ET

NBC "Last Call," 0.9 million viewers*

* Monday’s "Late Night" and "Last Call" and Friday’s "Kimmel" were encores

SELECTED CABLE RESULTS, WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 24-28

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," 0.5**

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

Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 0.8

Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 0.5

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," 1.1 million**

TBS, 11 p.m.-midnight, "Conan," 0.9 million

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

Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 1.2 million

** Monday’s "Daily Show" and "Colbert Report" were encores.

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