NBC sent out a revised press release. The original press release is below.
I didn’t do a compare on the two, but enterprising readers may want to. 
here is the revised press release:
REVISED: CONAN O’BRIEN INCREASES HIS 18-49 LEAD OVER ‘LATE SHOW’ WEEK TO WEEK
‘TONIGHT’ SCORES A 37 PERCENT MARGIN OF VICTORY FOR THE WEEK OF JULY 13-17 IN 18-49 VIEWERS, DESPITE ‘LATE SHOW’S’ MCCARTNEY APPEARANCE; THAT’S UP FROM A 29 PERCENT WIN THE PRIOR WEEK
IN THE 18-34 DEMO, CONAN DOUBLES DAVE
IN 18-49 RATING, CONAN IS #1 OR TIED FOR #1 ON FIVE OF FIVE NIGHTS OVER ‘LATE SHOW’ FOR THE WEEK, AND ON 30 OF 30 NIGHTS THUS FAR FOR CONAN ORIGINALS
JIMMY FALLON SCORES CONVINCING WINS OVER ‘LATE LATE SHOW,’ WITH MARGINS OF 30 PERCENT IN 18-49 VIEWERS AND 90 PERCENT IN 18-34 VIEWERS
IN 18-34 RATING, CARSON DALY REBROADCASTS TIE ‘LATE LATE SHOW’ ORIGINALS
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. ? July 23, 2009 ? NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” has stretched its adult 18-49 margin of victory over CBS’s “Late Show with David Letterman” week to week, taking the July 13-17 week by a 37 percent advantage over “Late Show” in 18-49 viewers, up from the prior week’s margin of 29 percent.
Despite a highly publicized appearance on “Late Show” by former Beatle Paul McCartney, “Tonight” more than doubled “Late Show’s” audience last week in the younger half of late-night’s key 18-49 demo, adults 18-34.
Conan also out-delivered Letterman for the week among adults 25-54, men 25-54, women 18-49, men 18-49, women 18-34 and men 18-34.
In adult 18-49 rating, “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” finished #1 or tied for #1 on five of five nights last week and is 30 for 30 with original telecasts since Conan’s June 1 debut.
The median age of Conan’s audience last week was 47.2, 10 years younger than Letterman’s 57.5. Conan is also younger than he was a year ago on “Late Night,” where the median age of his audience for this same week one year ago was 47.6.
“Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” scored convincing wins at 12:35 a.m. ET last week, taking the slot over CBS’s “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” by a 30 percent margin in 18-49 viewers and 90 percent in 18-34 viewers. Fallon also delivered a bigger adult 18-34 audience than Letterman, though Fallon aired an hour later than “Late Show.”
At 1:35 a.m. ET, encore telecasts of “Last Call with Carson Daly” (0.3 rating in 18-49) finished within a tenth of a rating point of “Late Late Show” originals (0.4). In the valuable adult 18-34 category, the “Last Call” encores tied the rating of the “Late Late Show” originals (0.3 each).
For the week of July 13-17, Conan’s average 1.380 million adults 18-49 topped the 1.008 million of Letterman; in total viewers, Conan’s audience of 2.713 million persons trailed Letterman’s 3.454 million; and in adults 18-34, Conan’s 685,000 million out-scored Letterman’s 333,000. At 12:35 a.m. ET, Jimmy Fallon’s 705,000 adults 18-49 for the week out-delivered Ferguson’s 542,000; in total viewers, Jimmy’s 1.269 million trailed Ferguson’s 1.478 million; and in adults 18-34, Jimmy’s 368,000 topped Ferguson’s 194,000.
WEEKLY AVERAGES
(According to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of July 13-17. Ratings reflect “live plus same day” data 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. ET
NBC “Tonight,” 1.0 rating, 5 share
CBS “Late Show,” 0.8/3
ABC “Nightline,” 0.9/4
12:05 a.m. ET
ABC “Kimmel,” 0.5/2*
12:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Late Night,” 0.5/3
CBS “Late Late Show,” 0.4/2
1:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Last Call,” 0.3/2 (in encore telecasts)
TOTAL VIEWERS
11:35 p.m. ET
NBC “Tonight,” 2.7 million viewers
CBS “Late Show,” 3.5 million viewers
ABC “Nightline,” 3.7 million viewers
12:05 a.m. ET
ABC “Kimmel,” 1.5 million viewers*
12:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Late Night,” 1.3 million viewers
CBS “Late Late Show,” 1.5 million viewers
1:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Last Call,” 0.7 million viewers (in encore telecasts)
* Monday’s “Kimmel” was an encore.
SEASON TO DATE
ADULTS 18-49
11:35 p.m. ET
NBC “Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien,” 1.5/6
CBS “Late Show,” 1.0/4
ABC “Nightline,” 1.0/4
12:05 a.m. ET
ABC “Kimmel,” 0.6/3
12:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” 0.8/5
CBS “Late Late Show,” 0.6/3
1:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Last Call,” 0.5/3
TOTAL VIEWERS
11:35 p.m. ET
NBC “Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien,” 3.9 million viewers
CBS “Late Show,” 3.8 million viewers
ABC “Nightline,” 3.8 million viewers
12:05 a.m. ET
ABC “Kimmel,” 1.7 million viewers
12:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” 2.0 million viewers
CBS “Late Late Show,” 1.8 million viewers
1:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Last Call,” 1.1 million viewers
SELECTED CABLE RESULTS, WEEK OF JULY 13-17
NATIONAL ADULT 18-49 RATING
Comedy Central, 11 p.m. ET, “The Daily Show,” 0.7
Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m. ET, “The Colbert Report,” 0.5
Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 0.7
Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 0.4
Each adult 18-49 rating point equals 1.32 million viewers
TOTAL VIEWERS
Comedy Central, 11 p.m. ET, “The Daily Show,” 1.5 million
Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m. ET, “The Colbert Report,” 1.1 million
Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 2.1 million
Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 1.1 million
here is the original press release:
CONAN O’BRIEN INCREASES HIS 18-49 LEAD OVER ‘LATE SHOW’ WEEK TO WEEK
‘TONIGHT’ SCORES A 37 PERCENT MARGIN OF VICTORY FOR THE WEEK OF JULY 13-17 IN 18-49 VIEWERS, DESPITE ‘LATE SHOW’S’ MCCARTNEY APPEARANCE; THAT’S UP FROM A 29 PERCENT WIN THE PRIOR WEEK
IN THE 18-34 DEMO, CONAN DOUBLES DAVE
IN 18-49 RATING, CONAN IS #1 OR TIED FOR #1 ON FIVE OF FIVE NIGHTS OVER ‘LATE SHOW’ FOR THE WEEK, AND ON 30 OF 30 NIGHTS THUS FAR FOR CONAN ORIGINALS
JIMMY FALLON SCORES CONVINCING WINS OVER ‘LATE LATE SHOW,’ WITH MARGINS OF 30 PERCENT IN 18-49 VIEWERS AND 90 PERCENT IN 18-34 VIEWERS
IN 18-34 RATING, CARSON DALY REBROADCASTS TIE ‘LATE LATE SHOW’ ORIGINALS
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – July 23, 2009 – NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” has stretched its adult 18-49 margin of victory over CBS’s “Late Show with David Letterman” week to week, taking the July 13-17 week by a 37 percent advantage over “Late Show” in 18-49 viewers, up from the prior week’s margin of 29 percent.
Despite a highly publicized appearance on “Late Show” by former Beatle Paul McCartney, “Tonight” more than doubled “Late Show’s” audience last week in the younger half of late-night’s key 18-49 demo, adults 18-34.
Conan also out-delivered Letterman for the week among adults 25-54, men 25-54, women 18-49, men 18-49, women 18-34 and men 18-34.
In adult 18-49 rating, “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” finished #1 or tied for #1 on five of five nights last week and is 30 for 30 with original telecasts since Conan’s June 1 debut.
The median age of Conan’s audience last week was 47.2, 10 years younger than Letterman’s 57.5. Conan is also younger than he was a year ago on “Late Night,” where the median age of his audience for this same week one year ago was 47.6.
“Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” scored convincing wins at 12:35 a.m. ET last week, taking the slot over CBS’s “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” by a 30 percent margin in 18-49 viewers and 90 percent in 18-34 viewers. Fallon also delivered a bigger adult 18-34 audience than Letterman, though the Fallon rebroadcasts aired an hour later than the “Late Show” originals.
At 1:35 a.m. ET, encore telecasts of “Last Call with Carson Daly” (0.3 rating in 18-49) finished within a tenth of a rating point of “Late Late Show” originals (0.4). In the valuable adult 18-34 category, the “Last Call” encores tied the rating of the “Late Late Show” originals (0.3 each).
For the week of July 13-17, Conan’s average 1.380 million adults 18-49 topped the 1.008 million of Letterman; in total viewers, Conan’s audience of 2.713 million persons trailed Letterman’s 3.454 million; and in adults 18-34, Conan’s 685,000 million out-scored Letterman’s 333,000. At 12:35 a.m. ET, Jimmy Fallon’s 705,000 adults 18-49 for the week out-delivered Ferguson’s 542,000; in total viewers, Jimmy’s 1.269 million trailed Ferguson’s 1.478 million; and in adults 18-34, Jimmy’s 368,000 topped Ferguson’s 194,000.
WEEKLY AVERAGES
(According to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of July 13-17. Ratings reflect “live plus same day” data 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. ET
NBC “Tonight,” 1.0 rating, 5 share
CBS “Late Show,” 0.8/3
ABC “Nightline,” 0.9/4
12:05 a.m. ET
ABC “Kimmel,” 0.5/2*
12:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Late Night,” 0.5/3
CBS “Late Late Show,” 0.4/2
1:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Last Call,” 0.3/2 (in encore telecasts)
TOTAL VIEWERS
11:35 p.m. ET
NBC “Tonight,” 2.7 million viewers
CBS “Late Show,” 3.5 million viewers
ABC “Nightline,” 3.7 million viewers
12:05 a.m. ET
ABC “Kimmel,” 1.5 million viewers*
12:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Late Night,” 1.3 million viewers
CBS “Late Late Show,” 1.5 million viewers
1:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Last Call,” 0.7 million viewers (in encore telecasts)
* Monday’s “Kimmel” was an encore.
SEASON TO DATE
ADULTS 18-49
11:35 p.m. ET
NBC “Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien,” 1.5/6
CBS “Late Show,” 1.0/4
ABC “Nightline,” 1.0/4
12:05 a.m. ET
ABC “Kimmel,” 0.6/3
12:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” 0.8/5
CBS “Late Late Show,” 0.6/3
1:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Last Call,” 0.5/3
TOTAL VIEWERS
11:35 p.m. ET
NBC “Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien,” 3.9 million viewers
CBS “Late Show,” 3.8 million viewers
ABC “Nightline,” 3.8 million viewers
12:05 a.m. ET
ABC “Kimmel,” 1.7 million viewers
12:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” 2.0 million viewers
CBS “Late Late Show,” 1.8 million viewers
1:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Last Call,” 1.1 million viewers
SELECTED CABLE RESULTS, WEEK OF JULY 13-17
NATIONAL ADULT 18-49 RATING
Comedy Central, 11 p.m. ET, “The Daily Show,” 0.7
Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m. ET, “The Colbert Report,” 0.5
Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 0.7
Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 0.4
Each adult 18-49 rating point equals 1.32 million viewers
TOTAL VIEWERS
Comedy Central, 11 p.m. ET, “The Daily Show,” 1.5 million
Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m. ET, “The Colbert Report,” 1.1 million
Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 2.1 million
Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 1.1 million
Ouch, I think Conan is starting to cut into Fallon. Ferguson outright beating a week of new Fallons is pretty amazing considering this had been a very even match for a while.
Conan only increased his 18-49 lead by about fifty thousand viewers, and he actually slipped in 18-49 from last week. Neither CBS nor NBC really wants to address Nightline managing to win post-Michael Jackson.
Kimmel can’t seem to benefit from Nightline at all. He’d probably even rather have Conan as a lead-in.
Neither of them address Nightline because Nightline is a non-factor. It’s numbers only look good because it has half-hour numbers being compared against hour-long averages. If you were to compare its numbers strictly with the first half of Dave & Conan, Nightline would be coming in third.
If that were true, they’d be promoting their numbers for the first half-hour along with their full hour-long numbers. That especially can’t be true of The Tonight Show since, given their hour-long average of 2.7 million, they’d have to drop off by two million viewers from their first half-hour just to have tied Nightline in the first half-hour.
I rarely waste time staying up that late to watch David LITTERMAN and CONEHEAD OBrien.
I wonder how Chelsea Lately is doing since she has one of the best late night shows right now. I just found her show a few weeks ago, and I love it. Its a great replacement now that Conan has taken over.
Spin, spin, spin by NBC – boy I’m getting dizzy!
Bottom line:
NBC “Tonight,” 1.0 rating, 5 share
CBS “Late Show,” 0.8/3
ABC “Nightline,” 0.9/4
Conan’s lead is dwindling, big time…week after week, THESE 3 lines of the press release show the story.
Anon, while I agree those are the relevant numbers, I still think it’s too early to make long term guesses. Leno at 10 is a wildcard that will certainly effect Conan and Dave, and perhaps Nightline. Most people assume Leno at 10 is a negative for Conan. I am not so sure.
Also, and I admit to not knowing at all, was Nightline still Michael Jackson focused last week? If so, their numbers cannot be projected to the future reliably.
Oh no no I agree – I just find it silly how NBC can keep touting stuff like “X% growth!”, “Up by X!”, “Beat Late Show by Y!” etc. etc….I guess the spin-meisters are doing their job though!
Well back in June (I don’t think anyone does week-by-week numbers for this show), Chelsea Lately was averaging around 1 million viewers at 11 pm. Back when it was at 11:30 pm, it was getting about 600,000 viewers. So in the cable late night talk show race, it’s losing to Comedy Central’s offerings.
I didn’t see Michael Jackson coverage on what I watched of Nightline, and someone commented on one of these press releases that there was very little focus on MJ. There’s nothing really left to cover of the story anyway, seeing as how his viewing/funeral was Tuesday (or Monday, I forget) two weeks ago, and nothing has happened since.
“Well back in June (I don’t think anyone does week-by-week numbers for this show), Chelsea Lately was averaging around 1 million viewers at 11 pm. Back when it was at 11:30 pm, it was getting about 600,000 viewers. So in the cable late night talk show race, it’s losing to Comedy Central’s offerings.”
It increased 400,000 viewers though? Nice.
How is it possible the CBS spin says Dave has narrowed the gap in 18-49 to the closest since Conan took over Tonight, but the NBC spin literally says the opposite. Usually I can see where CBS touts the total viewers and NBC the demos, but this is just literally contradictory. Am I reading that wrong?
I just took a look and last week Conan had a 1.1 vs Dave’s .8, this week it’s a 1.0 vs .8 – where does NBC get that Conan is increasing his lead in that demo week to week?
Jeff, as I was reading over the comments, NBC sent out a revised press release. I put it at the top of the post with the original below. I didn’t look at it at all because its child care time here, but some may want to.
The revised press release still has the same key fact wrong, claiming that Conan’s 18-49 lead increased week to week when it didn’t (it went from 0.3 to 0.2). Making claims that are simply outright wrong takes the fun out of spin.
I don’t understand the numbers as reported by both CBS and NBC. If Dave is winning in TOTAL numbers is that not a WIN? Do demos REALLY matter? And if so, if looks like Dave is gaining in all areas. The consenus is that everyone is doing okay business-wise and that each of the networks are making money on their franchises.
To me it would seem as though NBC is spinning a line of b.s.
Bill Carter had an interesting point on the NYT today. The Tonight Show got virtually NO bump last monday when Adam Sandler was the guest. Some people have been speculating that Conan’s numbers were down due simply to inferior guests, but this flies in the face of that thinking.
I guess that isn’t horrible news for Conan, considering that once Jay comes back at 10, his level of guests will drop down another notch.
Do people really care about Adam Sandler??
“The consenus is that everyone is doing okay business-wise and that each of the networks are making money on their franchises.”
But if we all agreed to this (true) statement, no one would be able to theorize doom and gloom for Conan’s career! We’d have to abandon the notion that Jay Leno might come back to The Tonight Show!
On a more serious note, a few of us actually just find it fun to see who’s “winning” the late-night wars, and aren’t really hoping for anyone’s failure and eventual firing.
Just compared the two press releases, the only difference is the revised release corrects this statement:
“Fallon also delivered a bigger adult 18-34 audience than Letterman, though the Fallon rebroadcasts aired an hour later than the “Late Show” originals.”
Fallon wasn’t in rebroadcasts last week, so this is the revised sentence:
“Fallon also delivered a bigger adult 18-34 audience than Letterman, though Fallon aired an hour later than “Late Show.””
Bottom line is that NBC didnt have any problems with their late-night shows, with all three of them winning their time slots but now they do.
As if they fixed their prime-time issues and they thought lets $%&* this up as well.
Here’s what was changed in the revised press release (6th paragraph):
They made a correction to say the Fallon was not in repeats…
Original:
“Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” scored convincing wins at 12:35 a.m. ET last week, taking the slot over CBS’s “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” by a 30 percent margin in 18-49 viewers and 90 percent in 18-34 viewers. Fallon also delivered a bigger adult 18-34 audience than Letterman, though the Fallon rebroadcasts aired an hour later than the “Late Show” originals.
Revised:
“Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” scored convincing wins at 12:35 a.m. ET last week, taking the slot over CBS’s “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” by a 30 percent margin in 18-49 viewers and 90 percent in 18-34 viewers. Fallon also delivered a bigger adult 18-34 audience than Letterman, though Fallon aired an hour later than “Late Show.”
Yeah Bill, the revised numbers still have that contradictory statement. Any ideas where they’re getting that from? Or is there another revised version from NBC being sent today.
these numbers are for the week of 13-17th.
adam sandler was on the 20th. god i hope conan’s numbers are better for that week with sandler, jonah hill, zach galifianakis, and seth rogen.
letterman’s number’s havent seemed to change all that much from when leno was on. that makes me feel a little better. because i would hate to live in a world where someone flips over from conan or even leno to watch letterman…..watches for a few days and then thinks ‘this is a good show, i gotta make sure to watch every night’
Time to dump Jimmy Fallon, he’s a good comedian but a horrible talk show host. If NBC had any brains they would have “Amy Poehler” sit in for him for a week and see how she did. Rotate a few other SNL people who actually write! A late night guy has to be able to write since the schedule is so demanding. Both Conan and Craig are heavy duty writers and that helps with the improve aspect of late night. “Amy Poehler” has the presence to make it work and a woman would make a nice change see how well Chelsea Lately is doing
“letterman’s number’s havent seemed to change all that much from when leno was on. that makes me feel a little better. because i would hate to live in a world where someone flips over from conan or even leno to watch letterman…..watches for a few days and then thinks ‘this is a good show, i gotta make sure to watch every night’”
Actually, these ratings for Letterman during the summer are pretty amazing. He usually pulls something like what Conan’s pulling right now during the summer, but now he’s pulling numbers that he usually only gets during the rest of the year.
And I hate to admit it, but Fallon’s gotten a lot better, and he might actually put on a good show in a few years.