via CBS press release (you can see the NBC spin on the matter here):
CBS’s “LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN” IN CLOSEST COMPETITIVE POSITION TO “THE TONIGHT SHOW” IN VIEWERS SINCE DECEMBER 2005
LATE SHOW Tops “Tonight” on Three Nights Last Week
Both LATE SHOW and THE LATE LATE SHOW Posts Audience Gains Compared to Same Week Last Year
CBS’s LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN scored a late night victory in households and was in its closest competitive position to “The Tonight Show” (separated by only 100,000 viewers) since December 2005, according to Nielsen live plus same day ratings for the week ending June 12, 2009.
LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN delivered a 2.7/07 in households with an average of 3.67m viewers, up +4% in both households (from 2.6/07) and viewers (3.52m) compared to the same week last year. LATE SHOW beat “The Tonight Show” in households (2.7/07 vs. 2.6/06, +4%) and on three nights last week in viewers: Tuesday (3.64m vs. 3.47m), Thursday (3.99m vs. 3.57m) and Friday (3.75m vs. 3.69m). LATE SHOW was in its closest competitive position against an all-first run week of “Tonight Show” broadcasts since the week ending December 2, 2005 (the week Oprah Winfrey appeared on LATE SHOW).
Television year-to-date, LATE SHOW is up +3% in viewers (3.80m from 3.68m), even in households (2.7/07), adults 18-34 (0.7/03), adults 18-49 (1.1/04) and adults 25-54 (1.4/05) compared to last year.
THE LATE LATE SHOW with CRAIG FERGUSON posted a 1.3/05 in households with 1.72m viewers in the week ending June 12, 2009, up +2% in viewers (from 1.69m) and even in households compared to the same week last year. THE LATE LATE SHOW was even in adults 25-54 (0.7/04), adults 18-49 (0.5/03) and adults 18-34 (0.4/02) compared to the same week last year.
Television year-to-date, LATE LATE SHOW is up +8% in households (1.4/05 from 1.3/05), +9% in viewers (1.88m from 1.72m) and even in adults 25-54 (0.7/04), adults 18-49 (0.6/03) and adults 18-34 (0.4/02) compared to the 2007-08 television year.
That’s CBS’s way of saying WE LOST!
I wouldn’t go that far, Dennis. No much how people want to spin it, overall viewers matter a lot… maybe not as much as the demos, but they still matter.
What I’m interested in is how Dave and Conan perform in future weeks without being surrounded by hype. Conan was getting a lot of press during his first week, and Dave got a ton of press last week and this week for the Sarah Palin controversy.
I think even if NBC doesn’t pull huge numbers in overall viewers like they did with Leno, I think they’ll still be pleased even if Conan ends up tying or narrowly beating Letterman in that area in the near future…. given Conan keeps cleaning up in the demos.
KT8711, like I wrote elsewhere, total viewers matters to press release writers and wishful fans!
So how much is CBS paying Sarah Palin for this?
bill… i guess you should be running cbs. they seem to have it all wrong. i mean why would they even keep letterman if he attracts such an old audience? why renew his contract? why pay him 30 million a year? you should be there… kick him out on hgis saggy old ass.
tom, it’s all relative. Letterman has 18-49 viewers that pay the bills for the show, just not as many as Leno did, and at least so far, Conan does. All those viewers outside the demo age groups contribute effectively nothing to the advertising revenue for the shows.
Robert or Bill, how come you guys don’t post ratings for daytime shows such as The View, Regis and Kelly, Bonnie Hunt, Tyra Banks, Dr. Phil and Oprah Winfrey?
Juan, some get posted in weekly Syndicated Ratings, the others that aren’t syndicated we don’t get directly from Nielsen are posted when we get them in press releases or Daytime Ratings.
Bill,
You mentioned 18-49 year old viewers “pay the bills” for the Letterman show. This brings up a question I’ve long had. As far as I can tell, Ferguson’s show (of which I am an unabashed fan) is done on, by far, the smallest budget of all the late night shows. Is his show more profitable?
I think Ferguson is incredibly talented and can do more with nothing than anyone on TV. I can’t figure out why CBS doesn’t take better care of him.
Chic, to be honest I haven’t been paying attention to the numbers we get on Ferguson’s show. Just looking at the CBS release out today, Letterman’s television year to date (likely since 9/20/08) 18-49 average is a 1.1 rating, and Ferguson’s is a 0.6 rating. That probably gives a very good indication of their relative advertising revenue, and I’m sure Letterman’s show is more expensive, but any guesses on relative profitability are difficult to make.
I was so glad when Craig brought this up on the show. Those younger men up to their twenties are either in school and or college. This day and time perhaps they can stay up late and be able to stay awake in classes the next day or own a Tivo.
I fall into the catagory that is no longer considered important and I have made my views known on several of these rating sites. The older generation have more discretionary spending money than those kids in school. In fact most of us are retired and living comfortably in a paid for home and with vehicles that are also paid for.
The Yuppie group have to hold down at least two jobs to support their kids and all of the bills that piles up. So they are sleeping most likely as well. They have to save for retirement and/or putting their kids through college. They don’t have a lot of discretionary spending money either.
So Networks, focal groups who work on these ratings polls give we older folks a chance to be counted in the television viewing demographics.
Personally I own 5 televisions that capture everything I want to watch, I have a satellite dish, 3 Tivos and 1 regular DVR that is on the satellite dish. So putting good shows against each other doesn’t work in this modern day electronic age.
Also I keep Amazon in business buying DVDs of seasons I have missed of my favorite shows.
I own every Craig Ferguson DVDs, CDs, I have a seller in Scotland who got me the old stuff, I collected all his movies even the last two who suffered with limited or no release in the USA. He did shows on BBC Scotland, Dirt Dectitive, Ferguson Theory. I own several copies of the first book he wrote and have the new one coming out in September on pre-order with Amazon along with the unabridged CD of the book. I hope and pray that he decides to do the book on CD reading himself. I have articles about him that have come out in other magazines besides the lovely one of him in “Watch” CBS’s official magazine.
So ladies who don’t fit in these “PRE-DETERMED DEMOGRAPHIC” Let those people know that we should be one of their main groups in “THESE RATINGS”. We watch Craig Ferguson rather than wasting time with those other less talented late night host.
Until I happened upon Craig’s LLS when I was channel surfing (Holiday Season 2005) I hadn’t ever watched many CBS shows. His accent made me stop and his looks and his comedy that wasn’t written on blue cards made me stay. A intelligent interviewer, he doesn’t read his jokes off a teleprompter. He does the show with a few bullet points and the rest is by the seat of his pants. I like the way he laughs hartily, “I can’t believe they pay me to do this”. Well he deserves all the kudo he get from all ages of people. The next night I addicted my husband to Craig and we have Tivoed all of his shows since.
Now since finding Craig I watch NCIS, all of the CSI’s except NY, I love the Mentalist. Missing out on the CSIs and NCIS, I promptly order the entire seasons I missed from Amazon.
I don’t like the stupid reality shows, I know they are cheap to produce but grown people don’t like seeing people do stupid things to each other. The first year of the “Apprentice” we watched, now we don’t waste our time. I agree with Craig, D. Trump, looks like he has a “Daniel Boone hat on backwards”. A big bag of hot air, a waste of space in any show.
Of Course Fox has “24″ and “House” and those I never miss. TNT has wonderful series that help fill the “SUMMER REPEATS” season.
SO LETS STAND UP AND BE COUNTED BY THESE RATING GURUs
WE ARE OVER FIFTY AND PROUD TO BE ALIVE AND WOMEN IN PARTICULAR SHOULD BE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCES TOO. GUESS WHO BUYS JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING FOR THEIR FAMILY/HUSBAND; WOMEN.
Thanks Craig for making this point for all of us uncounted millions.
Mary/Malia
I don’t think any of us like the idea of certain demographics being much less important than certain other ones Malia, but logical or not, that’s just how it is.
Anyway, I do love seeing all the different press release spins, so thanks for posting them all. It’s pretty funny to see NBC making their win seem even bigger, CBS making their loss seem even smaller, and ABC making it seem like they’re on top of the world.
Malia:
Great post!
Craig Ferguson is brilliant, and I have nothing to add.
Would love to chat with you more, check out craigforum.com.
Bill,
You said that viewers outside the demo contribute effectively nothing to advertising revenue. What about golf? I was under the impression that the viewers were 50+ but that their wealth made them desirable to advertisers. But maybe I’m wrong.
I also remember reading that about “Seinfeld” when it was still on network, that they many viewers over 49 but that they were desirable because of their high net worth. Don’t those kind of demographics also come into play? Especially on a show like Letterman’s, which I’ve always read had a much higher net-worth viewer than Leno. But again, I could be wrong.
I have to laugh at the 18-49 demos. I’m 55, employ 10 people and own 5 homes. The last time I checked payroll, none of my employees made as much as I do (not even close) but yet they have more disposible income than me. That’s amazing! I don’t like Conan, can bearly tolerate Letterman and I’ve seen enough news so I don’t need Nightline. ABC if you are listening, bring Jimmy Kimmel to 11:30 so I have something to watch before I go to bed.
I just thought of something else. Most 18-49 yo are up to the neck in credit card debt making it easy to track their purchases while I pay with cash so there is no record of my purchases. How many of my age or older simply cut a check rather than run up credit card debt. Just a thought.
gino: it’s about willingness to switch brands, not about disposable income.
Gino, that’s all well and good for you, but I think that networks care much more about the piles of national statistics they have in front of them that tell them to market toward the 18-49 demo…. your one piece of anecdotal evidence isn’t enough.