Categorized | Late Night TV Ratings

Conan premiere draws best Monday metered market ratings for Tonight Show in 4 years

Posted on 02 June 2009 by Robert Seidman

NUP_135327_0379

via NBC press release:

CONAN O’BRIEN DEBUTS WITH THE TOP ‘TONIGHT SHOW’ OVERNIGHTS FOR A MONDAY IN FOUR YEARS AND SEVENTH-BEST MONDAY IN THE LAST 17 YEARS

LAUNCHING HIS RUN AS ‘TONIGHT SHOW’ HOST, CONAN SOARS 82 PERCENT ABOVE THE SECOND-QUARTER ‘TONIGHT’ AVERAGE AND 173 PERCENT ABOVE HIS ‘LATE NIGHT’ FINALE

CONAN IS #1 FOR THE NIGHT IN THE METERED MARKETS, TOPPING ALL PRIMETIME SHOWS ON ALL NETWORKS

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – June 2, 2009 – Last night’s premiere telecast of “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” generated “Tonight’s” highest metered-market household rating for a Monday edition in more than four years and the seventh-highest Monday in the 17 years since Jay Leno began his run as “Tonight” host in May 1992, according to in-home viewing figures from the 56 local markets metered by Nielsen Media Research.

The Monday debut of “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” averaged a 7.1 rating, 17 share in metered-market households, “Tonight’s” strongest “overnight” results since the January 24, 2005 telecast featuring a special tribute to Johnny Carson.

Last night’s 7.1 rating in the metered markets is up 82 percent versus the “Tonight” second-quarter average of a 3.9 rating in the 56 local markets metered by Nielsen.

Versus his final telecast of “Late Night” on February 20, Conan was up last night by 173 percent (7.1/17 vs. 2.6/8).

Conan won last night’s time period by a 154 percent margin over CBS’s “Late Show with David Letterman” (7.1/17 vs. 2.8/7) and beat the combined results in that hour of “Late Show” and ABC’s “Nightline” (2.7/6) and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (1.2/4 with an encore telecast).

“The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” was Monday’s #1 telecast in the metered markets, rating ahead of all primetime telecasts on all networks.

At 12:35 a.m. ET, “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” (2.5/9) delivered its highest metered-market rating to date for a Monday telecast, topping even the show’s March 2 series premiere (2.3/8). Jimmy generated a 47 percent increase over the show’s 1.7/6 average for the quarter to date and dominated the hour over CBS’s “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” (1.6/5).

Conan has taken over as host of “Tonight” after a dominant run as host of “Late Night” from September 13, 1993 through February 20, 2009, a period during which he won 57 out of 57 quarters in adults 18-49 over “Late Late Show” competition.

National ratings for last night’s “Tonight,” including demographics and viewer totals, are due from Nielsen on Thursday, June 11.

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  • Eli
    Conan was utterly hilarious the first 3 episodes so far. I can't get enough of his humor. One can definitely tell he's a smart witty guy, and I love that he can pull humor from any part of the bit. He knows if a joke fails, and can work it back into his favor with his wit. My favorite part of Conan is his ability to self-deprecate so fluidly. I feel as if he would be a great friend and is truly a nice guy at heart.

    Letterman is not a nice guy at all, I do not like his character, nor do I like his jokes. Every once in a while his writers throw him a juicy one that is mildly humorous, but I can't stand letterman as a person.

    Leno, he's an alright guy, kinda funny sometimes. I think he'd rather be doing another job, from what I read in an article of GQ he seems to want to do the same.

    Fallon is atrocious from what little I've watched. I mean seriously NBC.. can't you get someone better?

    Jimmy Kimmel is a cool guy, would watch him if Conan wasn't vying for my attention.

    Craig Ferguson? He's okay.. I watch a few clips of him on youtube here and there but he really only has an accent going for him, everything else is just meh.
  • I read Nikki's blog religiously , but there didn't seem much "there" there, when it came to that post. Over the coming months, especially in September, you will see (perhaps even from Nikki) stories that go the other way, and say NBC is favoring Jay at Conan's expense. Some complained that NBC didn't even give Conan a full 24 hours in the spotlight before announcing Jay's return date!
  • dan
    Nikki Finke didn't mince words when she was talking about concerns and changes from NBC management about which party to back between Conan or Jay. More info here:

    http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/double-tr...
  • Some guy named John
    I have caught the first three nights of Conan's tonight show, and he seems to be doing great. Im so happy they brought back the Future (In the year...) skit And doing skits and jokes with the people he is interviewing is great. Tom Hanks was amazing on Tuesday for playing around, I wish more of Hollywood was like that guy.

    I do find it funny when people call Conan or any of the guys on the 11:30PM comedy/interview shows self-centered and or egotistical. All these guys go out of their way for their fans. Sure they all have their own humor, especially Letterman, who actually tones down his TV show. If you get a chance listen to the stuff he occasionally does with Howard Stern I reccomend it. But all the other guys are amazing people, I wish them all success in what ever they do.

    Now I have caught Jimmy Fallon's show around the beginning, and it was like pulling teeth, it was that bad. But now about 60 shows in he is starting to find a groove, sure his interviewing skills need to get better and it will, watch early clips of the other guys and you will see how they all got bette rover the years.
  • Chef Wacko
    A cool new set with nice colors (I always disliked the redish background behind Leno, it was annoying just like the annoying red/purple background on ESPN's Sportcenter) but other than the excellent opening video of him running across the country, it was pretty mediocre. I always thought Conan's "monologue" was best when the writers were on strike. That's when he was truly creative and funny in the opening of the show. Once the writers came back it was back to mediocrity. Oh, and he should have kept it the year 2000 not changed it to the year 3000. 2000 is funnier. And, believe me, I know toast.
  • Jesse
    @Joe

    I have no idea what you were reading, but Conan dominated whoever was hosting the Late Late Show pretty much every week for the decade and a half he was on Late Night.
  • As I've said before, there's never going to be any significant change in the talk show format because a) it's impossible due to the nature of the concept, and b) it simply hasn't changed in forty years, since Steve Allen and Jack Paar ran the Tonight Show. Evening, morning, afternoon - it doesn't matter, it's all the same.

    That said, I rank these guys as follows:

    1) Craig Ferguson: Because he doesn't give a damn because he knows he's the also-ran. That makes him better. His jokes are almost insult humor which is better than the lame stuff the rest of them do.
    2) Conan: Almost as nuts as Ferguson, but cares too much.
    3) Letterman: Now going for the "Grand Old Man" of the genre.
    4) Leno: In a rut.
    5) Fallon: Too nervous, not used to handling conversations with people.

    As I used to do for the talk shows in the '90's:

    1) Ferguson: For people who are trying to stay awake.
    2) Conan: For people trying to get to sleep.
    3) Letterman: For people who are asleep.
    4) Leno: For people who are in a coma.
    5) Fallon: For people who are in the grave.

    Oh, one other point - Jon Stewart eats all these guys for breakfast, then goes out to the IHOP for pancakes. He's funnier before the interviews he does, and he's funnier - and yet can be more serious - doing the interviews.
  • Jrock
    Leno is a nice guy but was really stale and had become unwatchable for me. Conan is a breath of fresh air. His "out and about" skits are all great! I can't wait to see Richter get more involved with the skits...those early Late Night skits with Conan and Andy were classics!
  • Joe
    I suspect Conan will maintain a lead over Letterman for a time before falling behind. It's fitting though: Both Conan and Letterman come across as self-centered, egotistical pricks more often than not. Conan because he thinks he's way funnier than he actually is and Letterman because he's lecherous and rather creepy, especially when interviewing attractive female guests. Jessica Biel is on tomorrow night, which should bring out the creepy factor.

    Letterman though is still better than Conan; he has a good rapport with certain guests (Jack Hanna comes to mind) while Conan really doesn't have any rapport with any guests. Like others said, he interrupts and basically shouts "Look at me!" throughout interviews. I can all but guarantee the people who usually watched The Tonight Show will absolutely hate him. Didn't Craig Ferguson usually beat him when he was later? Why would NBC think he would all of a sudden be able to beat better competition (and something of a TV legend if only for longevity)?

    I'd rather watch someone who actually seems grateful and likeable to be in his current position, something that Leno, by all accounts, is. Letterman I don't think has ever gotten over the snubbing.
  • shelly
    They seem to have eliminated the B-list guest (second guest on the show between the a-list and musical guest), which makes me a little sad because most of the guests I want to watch are usually these guests, like Hugh Jackman when he first appeared to promote the X-Men movie. I wonder why they've done that? Tonight's show only had Tom Hanks and Pearl Jam.

    I didn't love Leno but I enjoyed some of the bits he did after the monologue, particularly Celebrity Jeopardy and Headlines. Conan's little sketches seem mostly unfunny. I like him and think he's funny during the monologue but I don't much like the other changes they've made to this show.
  • AAA
    Conan is awesome. He does some goofy stuff here and there, but he also has some great jokes. I loved the Obama bit and the joke about the GM CEO being the Gitmo warden. Letterman's great too, so I think the younger crowd would probably go with Conan and older people would go with Letterman or kimel. I personally would try to watch both shows.
  • Kat
    AHHHH I LOVE CONAN!!!!! HE IS THE BEST!!!!!
  • Jesse
    It felt like mediocre Conan to me. I liked it, but it wasn't overly hilarious. I imagine once the pleasantries of a first show are over he'll be even better.

    That said, mediocre Conan kicks the hell out of Leno. There are edgier jokes on Laffy Taffy wrappers than what Leno used to tell.
  • Riff, you young whippersnapper, get the hell off my lawn! ;)


    Obligatory Cheap Trick story. In the early-90's, I was in Tokyo on business in a conference room in an office tower on the edge of the Imperial Palace Grounds. I asked one of the Japanese guys what the other big building in the grounds was besides the palace. Reply: "Budokan". Several of us (of a certain age) replied "Like, Cheap Trick live at Budokan?" in unison. Others, outside the demo responded with blank stares.

    Interesting economic factoid (told to me immediately afterwards, cannot confirm accuracy): During the peak of the Japanese property boom in the 80's, the Imperial Palace grounds (about the size of a very large city park) had a real estate land value greater than that of Canada.
  • Daniel
    "The people that don’t like Conan are way to serious in their lives and I recommend watching Letterman, Conan is the new generation tonight show. Conan brings unexpected humor to us, you need to keep up on what is going on to understand. I’m happy to see Conan on the Tonight Show and will continue to watch the show and hope that Triumph might show up. :D "

    Best comment yet! Well said.
  • Master Moron
    Is it just me, or did Conan and Jimmy Fallon both use the exact same joke about the Octomom? The "I'm a baby, get me out of here!" one. I heard it on Jimmy and I could have sworn Conan used the same joke.
  • Daniel
    Conan is easily the late night comedy king. Incomparably better than any of the other 5 hosts. Conan doesn't just read the cue cards like the others, he provides witty improv humor and has a keen ability to make fun of anyone who takes themselves too seriously.

    In other words, Leno fans will have to make some adjustments.. (no offense, but Leno delivered some of the lamest monologue jokes and his interviews were very boring. I only liked his jaywalking segments. Letterman is a prick and his top 10 lists are NEVER clever. He also opens his mouth too much about things he doesn't understand [most recently the Chevy Volt vs. Tesla cars].

    I'll be tuning in every day.
  • Some guy named John
    Watched it on Hulu, Andy Richter being back was great, but I wish he was on the couch with guests like the old days. The set seems to be too big. Why was there only Will Ferrel and Pearl Jam, no other guests? Max looked like he was miles away. Hopefully the show gets better over the next few weeks. I would really love to see more sketches that he did on late night, he seems to be trying to water down his act and be more like Leno, which was a shame.

    Give Conan some time to get it right, he's got to appeal to more people than before so give him a chance... I would love to see the "in the year 2000" sketch brought back, maybe "In the year 3000."
  • Riff Rafferty
    Bill, they had Cheap Trick back in the 1880s?
  • Justin
    Lettermen blew against Jay, he is just going to sink further and further down the toilet where he belongs now that he is going against Conan (esp in 18-34)
  • Riff, The Cheap Trick song was the highlight of the show for me too. Sounds of my distant (relative) youth. ;)
  • daniel
    i fell asleep before it started
    damn summer school
  • Riff Rafferty
    The Cheap Trick "Surrender" intro was the highlight -- and it was all downhill from there. Conan's monologue was devoid of comedy; most of the skits tanked (the Universal Studios tram/.99 cent store thing - horrible); and though it was nice to see Andy Richter on, he wasn't given anything funny to say or do and his and Conan's old chemistry didn't seem to be there. The set is nice, but doesn't go with Conan's pompadour. And Will Ferrell? Again? Is there some rule that he has to be the first guest every time a new talk show launches?

    As for the audience, I'm guessing they get them all liquored up before the show started? They were all hooting and hollering like they were attending a Jerry Springer taping. This might have made sense to me if the things they were laughing at were actually, you know, jokes.

    Must be "How I Met Your Mother" fans.
  • Sean
    "Sean, Leno was on for 17 years."

    That's even worse...so 6 Leno shows on Monday did better than Conan's super-promoted debut. I still that's a weird thing to trumpet in a press release...should have just left it at "best rating since..." and move on.
  • Tyson
    I've always routed for Letterman over Leno, but I couldn't stand to watch Letterman's show myself because that Paul guy annoys the hell out of me. I wonder how many viewers feel likewise. If Paul would just shut up, Letterman's show would be watchable.

    But I prefer Conan over any of them. True, he'll turn off some of the 60+ set, but no one is going to appeal to absolutely everyone. I think in the long term he'll get higher ratings than Leno. Leno was such a punchline to people who considered themselves to be too hip to watch him. Conan will attract those viewers.
  • JayDub
    I don't get how people think Conan has this so-called "intelligent" audience. He does idiot/cheap humor. I guess these so-called intelligent people watch his show when they turn their brains off at night.

    Jay never had to try to hard to be funny, with Conan you can tell that he's somewhat manufactured. So for the people that say Conan is more funny, duh! If he tries so hard to be that way and to the untrained eye you'd never notice. Sometimes it works, and a lot of times he falls flat on his face.

    I hope his run is not long at all. He's just a younger, red-head version of Letterman. Both have that sophomoric style of humor, and both need to find other lines of work
  • Junior
    It was a great show last night! I will watch daily!
  • Mike
    Glad to see Conan start out strong. He's always been number one in my books, but I understand how people (cough * over 50 * cough) dont' "get him."
  • Mikey
    I loved the opening last night and for the 20 minutes that I watched I laughed a lot.

    But I also had this feeling that 60 year olds in Missouri are just never going to make a nightly routine with Conan.

    He's in a category that I call "TV for people who don't watch TV". The young, smart people who really get him are never going to be more than occasional viewers.

    I hope I'm wrong. I just think 11:30 is all about pleasant, inoffensive mediocrity that old people can fall asleep to.
  • Sean, Leno was on for 17 years.
  • Sean
    "SEVENTH-BEST MONDAY IN THE LAST 17 YEARS!"

    That has to be one of the oddest things I've ever read in a press release. Is being 7th ever a good thing? How arbitrary is 17 years? BIZARRE.
  • Kermonk
    The problem with US chat shows is they rarely have guests on because they are interesting, usually its because they have stuff to sell. So everything become one long commercial.

    Obviously Canon O'Ball had a most of the 100 Nielsen families tune in to see how he would do with Will Ferret on opening day, but what does the numbers say in a year from now, or even a few months, eh?

    I've always found him an annoying charisma vacuum, but enough others will disagree. Though I think its unhealthy to watch him before going to bed - sure to get nightmares *g*
  • :P I blame the iPhone.
  • Hot Pocket
    The real battle begins tonight when the curiosity factors out of Conan's debut. I honestly see both guys trading ratings each night just like the WWE did with WCW back in the 90s with the Monday Night Wars.
  • "contraversal"?

    It's always easier to spot someone else's typos :-D
  • I don't see Stewart taking over for Letterman. At least I hope he doesn't. I don't think he could do anything nearly as good as TDS on CBS. Plus, unless he's got a contraversal guest his interviews aren't that great.
  • Chris K
    To: Some guy named John

    Could you provide links to where you found this info??
  • Chris K
    Conan was great.. You could tell he was a bit nervous.

    Letterman is old, and worn out.. I may actually watch the tonight show now, Leno wasn't very good.
  • GG
    Letterman is way better than Connan. I used to watch Leno, I don't get Connan, I know he's smart and appeals to my demographic, but I just don't get him. I hope Letterman kicks Connan's behind in the coming weeks.
  • Jenna
    I LOVED Conan's debut! He has always been my favorite late night host and he did not disappoint. I went to sleep in a good mood w/ a smile on my face! :)
  • Worldwide Pants
    Just a prediction. Conan will beat Letterman in the ratings for the next few years. By 2012, it'll be Dave's 30th anniversary hosting a late night talkshow (started on NBC February 1982), and will call it quits (surpassing Carson's 29 year run). Jon Stewart (who has a great relationship with Letterman) takes over the late show in 2012.

    Or not.
  • Brodaman
    The people that don't like Conan are way to serious in their lives and I recommend watching Letterman, Conan is the new generation tonight show. Conan brings unexpected humor to us, you need to keep up on what is going on to understand. I'm happy to see Conan on the Tonight Show and will continue to watch the show and hope that Triumph might show up. :D
  • Some guy named John
    Little fun fact, when Conan was starting out, Letterman would actually send people (who couldn't get seats at his show) to Conan's studio to fill seats and help him out. Letterman might not like NBC but he showed nothing but love for Conan. Conan was first offered week to week contracts for the show as no one at NBC thought he would make it.
  • Shawn
    I don't understand what people see in Letterman. He's not funny at all and not particularly likable either. Leno seems like a great guy, very likable, but Conan's show was always much more funny. Conan seemed a bit nervous and repressed in his premier... a bit too serious compared to what I typically expect from him. I hope in the future we'll see some more of the "old Conan" and his brand of immature humor which was always successful in cracking me up.
  • SNORE!
    The whole late night genre is an utter snore. I watched in in the summer when I was 13 before we had cable, otherwise forget it. Why waste time when there is cable, on demand, hulu, etc.
  • Royal H
    I have my preferences when it comes to hosts, but really my viewing habits are really dictated by the guests. I watch the show with the guests I want to see most. If none of them interest me, I don't watch at all. So I'm surprised there isn't more variability in the ratings depending on who happens to be on the respective shows on a given night.
  • alan
    conan is no johnny..no jay and certainly no dave...i didnt watch, will tune in at some point..but i just cant stand him and his stupid over the top voices and manic behaviour...and he is not a good interviewer...he really seems more suited to a comedy show....i hope daves ratings pick up and conans go down...of coure i think lettermans show is do for some freshening up too...
  • Jon
    The high ratings for Conan's first Tonight Show isn't surprising as NBC promoted it heavily and of course people will be curious but we'll have to wait and see especially with The Jay Leno Show later in the year.

    I wonder if CBS and ABC have ideas for the successors for Late Show/Late Late Show and Live! I doubt Jimmy Kimmel is ready to leave just yet but I wonder if we'll see Craig Ferguson on the Late Show if Letterman retires or will they go for someone younger.
  • dave
    I always though Conan was much funnier than Leno.

    Letterman's show is just plain boring and has been for a decade.

    I didn't catch last night's show but I do think that Conan's weakness has always been his interviewing skills. He tends to inject too much of himself into the interviews.

    I am going to watch tonight.
  • chet
    i agree with robert lets wait and see for a few weeks to see-right now he is a novelty-its still new
  • kim
    LETTERMAN, LETTERMAN, LETTERMAN
  • john
    Connan is no Letterman or Leno, infact he's better. I loved that show so much. I'm so happy my generation of late night is finally taking over. NBC really had top notch late night comedy. I even like Fallon's kinda quirkiness awkardness too
  • joe
    Letterman got a 10.8 ratings on his CBS premire.
  • Arleen
    I love Letterman no matter what. Conan is no Letterman.
  • Nice show! He's basically doing Late Night in LA, which is exactly what I wanted. But I seriously doubt Counan will keep up with Leno's viewers, but the demos will improve.
  • J.Norman
    That Conan got these big ratings on the premiere should be no surprise to anyone. Way back when Letterman went to the 11:35 spot he also garnered big ratings initially. This is most probably due to 2 factors. 1) Curiosity from the 11:30 crowd about what this new guy is all about and 2) a number of "loyalty" viewers from the 1:00 crowd giving him a boost.
    Both factions will level off after some months or a year and find their permanent niche. . Just like what happened with Letterman.
  • Vetinari
    Conan was good but the set was much too big.
  • I fell asleep at 8:30pm last night so I had no chance of seeing this! But two things:

    1.) it was pretty easy to predict that there would be strong ratings for the premiere episodes. What it looks like in a couple of weeks will be more enlightening. The same will be true for Leno when it appears in the fall, and it will be interesting to see if there is any impact on Conan's ratings due to Leno

    2.) NBC promoted the hell out Conan's debut over the last week or so, at least that was the impression I got from binging on NCIS reruns on USA Network the last week. There were a lot of Conan promos. Not as many as Burn Notice or Royal Pains perhaps, but more than enough to notice them.
  • Some guy named John
    I think I recorded it. I'll watch it tonight when I get home.

    Sorry Conan!
  • Holli
    It is going to be a long summer w.out Jay !!

    I had trouble watching it until even the 1st commercial. Never made it to Will Ferrell the 1st gueast. What is wrong with him? I just don't get what people like about him. WIll try watching the rest when I am more alert to see if it gets better. But does not look like will be worth my time. I think the ratings will drop unless there is nothing else new on. Letterman is better than that

    Will Tivo Kimmel and most likely watch next day instead.
  • David4
    Shem works for NBC. lol

    I fell asleep watching it, but the set looks awesome! Much much better than the new Late Night set.
  • Shem
    This is no spin. I love NBC; its my most-watched network, they do have some of the best shows on television.
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