TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON Wins Premiere Week of 2017-18 TV Season

By: Caryn Robbins Oct. 03, 2017

TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON has won premiere week of the 2017-18 television season, leading the ratings for the week of Sept. 25-29 in the key late-night demographic of adults 18-49, according to "live plus same day" results from Nielsen Media Research.
"Tonight" delivered its highest rating, excluding the week of an NFL overrun, since Aug. 14-18 (0.63).

For the week, "Tonight" generated a +24% margin of victory in adult 18-49 rating over CBS' "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" (with a 0.63 rating versus a 0.51) and posted a +29% win versus ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" (0.63 vs. 0.49). Friday's "Kimmel" was an encore and Thursday's "Late Show" was delayed by an NFL overrun.

At 12:35 a.m. ET last week, "Late Night with Seth Meyers" finished #1 in the timeslot versus CBS' "The Late Late Show with James Corden" in 18-49 and total viewers, and in their head-to-head half-hour from 12:30 to 1 a.m. ET, "Late Night" beat ABC's "Nightline" in every key measure.

The 0.34 rating in 18-49 matches Meyers' highest, excluding the week of an NFL overrun, since Aug. 7-11 (0.37).

Meyers' generated a +17% margin of victory versus "Late Late Show" for the week in adults 18-49 (with a 0.34 rating average versus a 0.29). From 12:30 to 1 a.m., the "Late Night" advantage versus "Nightline" was +18% (0.40 vs. 0.34 for that half-hour).

LATE-NIGHT WEEKLY AVERAGES
(According to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of Sept. 25-29. Ratings reflect "live plus same day" data from Nielsen Media Research unless otherwise noted.)