Latest in Late Night Ratings

EXCLUSIVE: “You can’t do a late night show until you’re 80 years old,” Jimmy Kimmel just joked to me about his Jimmy Kimmel Live moving from midnight to 11:35 PM weekdays starting January 8th. The ABC late night host is only 44 years old now – and that’s why the network is betting that Kimmel can attract younger…

Possibly boosted by State of the Union coverage, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart posted its first weekly win over TBS’ Conan in adults 18-34, according to the network. Conan had a huge premiere in November, dominating the cable and broadcast late-night field for its first couple of weeks on the air…

According to TBS, Conan got a significant lift from DVR viewing for the period from its Nov. 8 premiere til the end of the year, adding some 361,000 18-49 viewers and 236,000 viewers in the 18-34 demographic. With the time-shifted viewer numbers included, Conan is topping the rankings of all late-night shows on…

NBC won three nights in primetime last week, and its ratings gains also carried over to late-night. Both Jay Leno (4.2 million viewers) and Jimmy Fallon (1.9 million) hit season highs in total viewers. for the week of Dec. 13-17. Leno also topped Letterman and Nightline/Jimmy Kimmel in every key category and also…

It was widely expected but, since the weekly numbers for the broadcast late-night shows are not released until the following Thursday, Conan O’Brien’s weekly victory did not become official until today. For his first week on TBS, Conan drew a 1.6 rating among adults 18-49 vs. a 0.9 for Letterman and Leno, who were…

Conan just wrapped his first week on TBS slightly above projections, with an average of 2.9 million total viewers, 2.2 million adults 18-49 and 1.5 million adults 18-34. His median age was 32, way younger than his latenight counterparts. “We couldn't be happier with the great response from Conan’s fans,” said TNT and…

After David Letterman in the last week of October posted his first demo win over Leno since Leno’s return to The Tonight Show, Leno bounced back to reclaim the lead in both 18-49 and total viewers for the first week of November. This marks Leno’s first solo first-place finish at the top of the 18-49 rankings in 5…

2ND UPDATE: It was a great opening for Conan O’Brien on TBS last night. The comedian’s eponymous talk show drew big 4.2 million viewers and massive 3.3 million adults 18-49 and 2.5 million in 18-34 to rank as the top-rated latenight show on TV – broadcast or cable – last night. This was an impressive 2/3+ of the…

CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman tied NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno for the second consecutive time last week after achieving the feat for the first time this season the week before. The 2 late-night shows also pulled in identical ratings in adults 18-34 and adults 25-54 last week, with Leno drawing a…

Maybe it doesn’t matter who sits in the Tonight Show chair after all. NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno posted a 1.0 rating among adults 18-49 during premiere week, matching the performance of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien the same week last year. (In total viewers, the older-skewing Leno was up 58%). It was…

There’s big news on the late night TV battlefront today: The late-night ratings for Q2 – the first full quarter since Leno came back as host after Conan O’Brien was dumped – are in, and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno posted its lowest-rated Q2 since the Late Show with David Letterman launched on CBS in 1993…