The Late Show still won the most viewers though (details below). Note, there is a typo in the results for Conan’s total viewers indicating that The Tonight Show was in encores. It wasn’t, and while I’m as quick to embrace a conspiracy theory as the next guy, given our own experiences with template-based publishing, such mistakes do sometimes occur unintentionally! Update (11:50A, PDT): NBC did update the release, and I’ve now replaced the original with the updated version.
via NBC press release
CONAN O’BRIEN DOMINATES ALL BROADCAST AND CABLE COMPETITION IN 18-49 FOR THE WEEK OF AUG. 24-28, SCORING HIS BIGGEST WIN OVER ‘LATE SHOW’ SINCE JUNE
CONAN BEATS LETTERMAN BY A 63 PERCENT MARGIN IN 18-49 VIEWERS, 144 PERCENT IN 18-34
‘TONIGHT’ TOPS CBS AND ABC FOR THE HOUR IN EVERY KEY DEMO: ADULTS, MEN AND WOMEN 18-34, 18-49 AND 25-54
CONAN HAS WON 60 OF 60 NIGHTS VS. ‘LATE SHOW’ IN 18-49 RATING (INCLUDING TIES)
IN THE VALUABLE 18-34 DEMO, JIMMY FALLON ENCORES OUT-DELIVER LETTERMAN ORIGINALS FOR THE WEEK, DESPITE JIMMY’S LATER START TIME
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – September 3, 2009 – NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” has dominated all broadcast and cable competition for the week of August 24-28 in the key late-night demographic of adults 18-49, as Conan scored his biggest margin of victory over CBS’s “Late Show with David Letterman” since the week of June 22-26.
Conan’s margin over Letterman for the week was 63 percent in 18-49 viewers, up from a 34 percent margin the last time both shows aired originals (week of July 27-31). In adult 18-34 viewers, Conan more than doubled “Late Show” last week, winning by a 144 percent margin.
Conan’s 18-49 audience increased by 12 percent versus his prior week of originals (1.526 million adults 18-49 vs. 1.368 million for the week of August 10-14).
“Tonight” delivered bigger audiences in the hour than CBS’s “Late Show” and ABC’s combination of “Nightline” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in every key ratings demographic: adults, men and women 18-34; adults, men and women 18-49; and adults, men and women 25-54.
Conan ranked #1 versus Letterman on five of five nights for the week in adult 18-49 rating. Conan has now ranked #1 in 18-49 rating versus “Late Show” on 60 of 60 nights since his June 1 debut (including two ties, excluding the week of June 29-July 3, when “Tonight” was re-titled due to delays for Wimbledon coverage). Conan has won 12 of 12 weeks thus far in 18-49 viewers versus “Late Show” by margins each week of 20 percent or more (excludes Wimbledon week). Note that last Friday’s telecasts of “Late Show” and “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” were delayed by an NFL overrun and are excluded from weekly averages.
The median age of Conan’s audience last week was 46.2, more than 10 years younger than “Nightline’s” 56.5 and more than 11 years younger than Letterman’s 58.0.
NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” was also demographically dominant last week, delivering bigger audiences than Ferguson and Kimmel in every one of the key demographics: adults, men and women 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54. “Late Night” and “Late Late Show” were in rebroadcast last week. Since his March 2 debut, Jimmy Fallon has ranked #1 or tied for #1 versus Ferguson in 18-49 rating on 122 of 125 nights.
In the valuable adult 18-34 category, Jimmy Fallon encores out-delivered Letterman originals (344,000 vs. 307,000), despite Jimmy’s later start time. Head-to-head versus Ferguson, Jimmy’s margin was 76 percent in 18-34 viewers.
At 1:35 a.m. ET, encore telecasts of “Last Call with Carson Daly” (0.3 rating in 18-49, 0.3 in 18-34) finished within a tenth of a rating point of Ferguson and Kimmel in 18-49, and in the 18-34 demo, “Last Call” tied Ferguson and Kimmel.
For the week of August 24-28, Conan’s average 1.526 million adults 18-49 topped the 935,000 of Letterman; in total viewers, Conan’s audience of 2.783 million persons trailed Letterman’s 3.316 million; and in adults 18-34, Conan’s 750,000 out-scored Letterman’s 307,000. At 12:35 a.m. ET, Jimmy Fallon’s 794,000 adults 18-49 for the week out-delivered Ferguson’s 570,000; in total viewers, Jimmy’s 1.333 million trailed Ferguson’s 1.522 million; and in adults 18-34, Jimmy’s 344,000 topped Ferguson’s 196,000.
WEEKLY AVERAGES
(According to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of August 24-28. 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,” 1.2 rating, 5 share
CBS “Late Show,” 0.7/3*
ABC “Nightline,” 0.9/412:05 a.m. ET
ABC “Kimmel,” 0.4/2*12:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Late Night,” 0.6/3 (in encore telecasts)
CBS “Late Late Show,” 0.4/3 (in encore telecasts)*1:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Last Call,” 0.3/3 (in encore telecasts)TOTAL VIEWERS
11:35 p.m. ET
NBC “Tonight,” 2.8 million viewers
CBS “Late Show,” 3.3 million viewers*
ABC “Nightline,” 3.5 million viewers12:05 a.m. ET
ABC “Kimmel,” 1.4 million viewers*12:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Late Night,” 1.3 million viewers (in encore telecasts)
CBS “Late Late Show,” 1.5 million viewers (in encore telecasts)*1:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Last Call,” 0.8 million viewers (in encore telecasts)* Monday’s “Kimmel” was an encore. Friday’s “Late Show” and “Late Late Show” were delayed by an NFL overrun and are excluded from these averages.
SEASON TO DATE
ADULTS 18-49
11:35 p.m. ET
NBC “Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien,” 1.3/6
CBS “Late Show,” 1.0/4
ABC “Nightline,” 1.0/412:05 a.m. ET
ABC “Kimmel,” 0.5/312:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” 0.8/4
CBS “Late Late Show,” 0.6/31:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Last Call,” 0.4/3TOTAL VIEWERS
11:35 p.m. ET
NBC “Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien,” 3.3 million viewers
CBS “Late Show,” 3.7 million viewers
ABC “Nightline,” 3.8 million viewers12:05 a.m. ET
ABC “Kimmel,” 1.6 million viewers12:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” 1.9 million viewers
CBS “Late Late Show,” 1.8 million viewers1:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Last Call,” 1.1 million viewersSELECTED CABLE RESULTS, WEEK OF AUGUST 24-28
NATIONAL ADULT 18-49 RATING
Comedy Central, 11 p.m. ET, “The Daily Show,” 0.4
Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m. ET, “The Colbert Report,” 0.3Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 0.9
Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 0.5Each adult 18-49 rating point equals 1.32 million viewers
TOTAL VIEWERS
Comedy Central, 11 p.m. ET, “The Daily Show,” 0.9 million
Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m. ET, “The Colbert Report,” 0.7 millionAdult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 2.0 million
Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 1.2 million
Why did it say under Total Viewers that Tonight Show was in “encore telecasts”? I guess when it’s the important category that you’re losing in, it doesn’t hurt to have a convenient “typo”.
SB, I added a note in the top, and it could be they reissue the release. As noted above, we use a lot of template-based publishing here and make those sort of mistakes a lot ourselves unintentionally. But I agree it is convenient!
I’ll give NBC the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the PR department was so bored with the show, even they thought it was still in reruns!
That could be worse for Conan. 1.4 is pretty good. And the total viewers could be wirse. In 5 or 6 Months, Conan will be back on top with the viewers. At leasi I hope.
Conan’s total viewer audience is closer to Letterman’s than it’s been in awhile. The coming weeks shall be interesting.
Jay Leno in 2008 August 25-29 averaged 1.7 million 18-49 and 4.5 million total viewers. Conan O’brien August 24-28 2009 has 1.5 million 18-49 and 2.8 million total vievers. That is a complete disaster. It is disgraceful when Jeff Zucker says that Conan is doing “incredibly well demographically” when he is doing worse than Leno did last year. Conan is going against a 63 year old man and should be doing well demographically. As a young person, 26 years old I find it insulting when people say Conan appeals to young people, when I find him terrible. He has ruined the Tonight Show and I can’t believe people think he does well with young people when Leno did better.
Never mind, I was looking at the season-to-date.
I watched Conan last night for the first time in about a month. It seems to me from the last time I watched it they are trying to make the show more like Leno’s old show. Some of the skits and gags seemed to come straight out of Leno’s playbook. Me thinks someone at NBC gave Conan a memo they have to make their comedy a bit more mainstream a la Leno.
The thing people don’t understand about Conan O’brien is that he stopped being funny 2 years ago. Remember, he was losing to Craig Ferguson at 12:30 the last few months before Conan left.
Around 2 years ago Conan started getting real old and not funny. People think he stopped being funny when he took over Tonight show, his career was going down hill a few years ago when Ferguson started beating him. What a mistake for NBC. How does Zucker keep his job.
3rd in viewers week after week. Pathetic, there’s no other way to say it. And yes, the show itself has gotten a little better lately, but that’s beacause NBC is trying to lenonize it. Conan stil sucks
What are the actual numbers 18-34?
I still do not understand the “spin.” So Dave’s and Craigger’s Friday shows were excluded from the tab and they still beat NBC by a considerable margin? Am I reading this correctly? Four nights out of five Dave still kicked Conan’s butt? What I do not understand is how they crow about demos when Dave seems to be doing okay himself. What am I missing here?
Golly Gee It figures that the rest of America (Critics included) wouldn’t like the show because I LOVE it…The only misstep I have seen is when Conan invited the boorish Norm MacDonald on the show not once but twice this summer. But I guess I won’t count in the ratings because although I watch it regularly, I see it recorded the next day. My 15 and 11 year old love it too and although we could have recorded and watched Jay or Dave we never did.
Evan, with late night, we don’t data directly from Nielsen. All we see is what the press releases (like this one) provide. And, not surprisingly, they provide what advances their PR agenda.
Jon, NBC’s argument is that Conan’s doing better than Jay in 18-34,which is true. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to offset the fact that Jay did better in 18-49.
Conan is doing a little better than Jay in 18-34. It doesn’t matter, Jay did better in 18-49. 18-34 Demo doesn’t mean anything if you don’t have the 18-49 to back it up. Besides, 25-54 is more important than both of those demos, young people don’t have money anyways.
It doesn’t matter that Conan is doing better 18-34 they don’t have any money. Besides, 25-54 is the real important demo these days and they are basically even in that demo. In 49-54 Letterman is winning.
I’ve been a Conan fan for years, but these days I have to admit the moments where he has me chuckling are far and few between. Not that I’ve been keeping score, but since the move to 11:35, Andy has provided more of these moments for me than Conan.
**Twitter Tracker voice**
Oh no, CoCo lost his mojo?
And how about Fallon. The guy has lost like 5 straight weeks to Ferguson. Fallon is terrible, those terrible skits where he does that carpet game and they spin the wheel, his show is a joke. He hasn’t done anything funny in months and he has like 1 good writer, but he only writes 10% of the jokes. He seems so nervous because he’s losing to Ferguson, and his monologue is ridiculously bad. I just don’t understand how you can have Conan and Jimmy Fallon as your late night guys. What a joke.
Thanks, Bill.
It is a tough business to write comedy every night and for a host to be truly funny. Do you ever wonder if Conan is still in shock over landing the gig of a lifetime? I do believe that he started going stale and marking time about two years ago. Jimmy Fallon was a safe bet both from NBC’s and Lorne Michael’s vantage point as he was already in the NBC family. However, I was of the thinking that Carson Daly would have been a wiser choice because he seems more broad based (demographically speaking) but not a lot of people on various blogs dig him.
I have not watched Jimmy Fallon in quite some time but thought that he was marginally okay…LOL…
‘Jay Leno in 2008 August 25-29 averaged 1.7 million 18-49 and 4.5 million total viewers. Conan O’brien August 24-28 2009 has 1.5 million 18-49 and 2.8 million total vievers. That is a complete disaster’
those numbers by themselves arent a disaster. Dave’s number have stayed about the same – meaning theyre not as good as Leno’s used to be. But he’s beating Conan. Are Conan and Dave’s numbers both disasters because theyre both not as good as Leno’s old numbers?
I know that quote goes along with the implication that it was a bad idea to replace leno with conan. I’m just picking it apart because I’m an ass.
Also, Conan is said to appeal to younger viewers because generally thats what he does. Leno was usually around 5 Million. But using those numbers from that week last august and this past month….
1.7M 18-49 out of 4.5M total = 38ish % of Leno’s audience 18-49
1.5M 18-49 out of 2.8M total = 54ish % of Conan’s audience 18-49
That’s why the general consensus is Conan gets young viewers. The majority of Conan’s audience is 18-49. The majority of Leno’s wasn’t. It’s kind of crazy seeing those numbers that conan is even that close to Leno’s demo numbers considering he has almost 2 million less viewers.
Bottom line–Conan gets fewer viewers age 18-49 than Leno did. Conan appeals to younger viewers less than Leno appeals to younger viewers. There is no way to spin that.
Conan is a 46 year old man. He is unattractive. He is not funny. He is tense and arrogant. Repeat–He is not funny. These qualities don’t scream “young” to me but, then again, I’m not Jeff Zucker.
Are these numbers “real?” Coco is achieving what NBC wanted in replacing Jay, he is siphoning the younger viewers even though his “total” viewers do not seem to “matter.” NBC is winning based on the demographic profile of both “Tonight” and “Late Show,” but the interesting part of the story is how many of these so called younger viewers have jobs or income to buy sponsor’s products?
To me if the the traditional networks were smart, they would go after the traditional television viewer (40 and over) because they are the ones who are still/most loyal to the “traditional” broadcast networks.
Younger viewers, in my opinion, will not clammor to “Jay” who will lead in to the local news in to “Conan,” “Jimmy,” etc. So to me, why not take the best part of the most loyal audience and build it and let the other demographic profiles follow?
This is why we need talkshow with spike feresten back on fox. It had better ratings than jimmy fallon and carson daly are having now. Everybody who agrees with me, choose the talkshow with spike feresten for my “weeknight update which show you want back on fox challenge” on my youtube page right now.
Bad trend for Letterman here. If Conan decreases that total viewers lead more in next week’s release, I’d say he’s probably damned to second place again (baring any possible negative effects on Conan by The Jay Leno Show).
Meanwhile, Fallon’s starting to look hopeless.
Jon, I do agree that Conan seemed to be at his best a couple years ago, but he was still very good when he left Late Night. Someone else here said it looks like they’re making Conan’s show more and more like Jay’s old show. I haven’t seen that lately, but then again I don’t watch every night anymore. Anyway, whether or not they really are doing that, I do think that the problem is that Conan’s under pressure to make his show like Jay’s.
You can spin this anyway you want to make the numbers look good. The fact still remains: The Tonight Show has lost 2 million viewers since Conan took over… NBC can say they’re happy with the performance all they want, but you know behind closed doors they’re kicking themselves in the butt for that decision.