ABC's Late-Night Lineup Wins First Quarter in Viewers, Adults 18-49

With "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and "Nightline" during the week of March 25, 2013, ABC grew its Total Viewer count (2.239 million) for the 2nd week in a row to its biggest overall audience in late-night in 5 weeks - since the week of 2/18/13.

ABC stood as the most-watched network in late-night (2.239 million) for the 4th time in 5 weeks, outdrawing NBC by 3% (2.166 million) and increasing its lead over CBS to 7% (2.093 million) from 2% the prior week. In fact, ABC has been the No. 1 network in late-night in Viewers in 7 of 12 weeks with its new lineup-more than the wins of NBC (1) and CBS (4) combined.

ABC was late-night's No. 1 network in Adults 18-49 (750,000) for the 10th time in 12 weeks, leading NBC by 9% (690,000) and holding a larger advantage over CBS (667,000) this week versus the prior week (+12% vs. +8%).

During its first quarter with its new late-night lineup, ABC ranked as the No. 1 network in both Total Viewers (2.314 million) and Adults 18-49 (801,000), beating CBS for the 4th straight quarter (2.289 million and 699,000) and NBC in 3 of the last 4 quarters (2.187 million and 726,000).

The only broadcaster to see growth, ABC was up over the prior quarter for the 2nd consecutive quarter in Adults 18-49 to deliver its best number in late-night in almost 1 year -- since 2Q12.

ABC was also the only broadcaster to post gains over the year-ago 1st quarter in either Total Viewers (+2%) or Adults 18-49 (+3%), as CBS was down -4%/-16% and NBC declined -6%/-8%.

"Jimmy Kimmel Live" (M-F 11:35 p.m.)

During the week of March 25, 2013, ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" grew its overall audience over the prior week for the 2nd straight week to hit a 9-week high in Total Viewers (2.582 million)- best since the week of 1/21/13. "JKL" also saw enormous gains over its performance on the same week last year (w/o 3/26/12) of 41% in Total Viewers (2.582 million vs. 1.830 million) and 38% among Adults 18-49 (871,000 vs. 630,000), growing year to year in each week since moving to 11:35 p.m.

• Thursday's airing of "JKL" (on 3/28/13) was the week's No. 1 telecast in late-night in Adults 18-49. On that day, "JKL" defeated NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" head to head in The Hour by 21% among young adults (1.153 million vs. 955,000).

• ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" ranked as the No. 2 talk show in late-night for the week in Adults 18-49 (871,000), standing less than 100,000 Adult 18-49 viewers from NBC's "The Tonight Show" (964,000), which had the benefit of a shorter 4-day week with all-original telecasts.

• Despite airing a repeat telecast on Friday (versus a 4-day average of originals for "Tonight Show"), "JKL" stood just 9,000 Adult 18-34 viewers from NBC's "The Tonight Show" during the week (301,000 vs. 310,000).

• ABC's "JKL" outdelivered CBS' "The Late Show with David Letterman" by 6% in Adults 18-49 (871,000 vs. 821,000) and 6% in Adults 18-34 (301,000 vs. 285,000), leading the CBS program in the latter demo in 11 of the 12 weeks since its 11:35 p.m. move.

During the 1st Quarter of 2013, ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" was up 36% over the prior quarter (2.635 million vs. 1.942 million) to attract its biggest ever audience for any quarter, scoring its two largest audiences back to back with 1Q13 and 4Q12. Growing over 4Q12 by 39% in Adults 18-49 (929,000 vs. 667,000), "JKL" turned in its best performance for any quarter in more than 9 years (since 4Q03) to deliver its 3rd-strongest quarter ever among young adults.

"JKL" grew over the year-ago first quarter (1.703 million and 653,000) by 55% in Total Viewers and by 42% in Adults 18-49, growing its overall audience year over year for the 12th straight quarter.

• ABC's "JKL" was the quarter's No. 1 broadcast talk show in late-night in Adults 18-34 (329,000), beating NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (+2% - 323,000) and CBS' "The Late Show with David Letterman" (+18% - 278,000).

• "JKL" stood just 89,000 Adult 18-49 viewers from NBC's "Tonight Show" (929,000 vs. 1.018 million), marking its closest finish ever during a quarter.

• Scoring its first-ever victory over "Late Show" during any quarter, "JKL" topped the CBS program by 7% in Adults 18-49 (929,000 vs. 871,000) to rank as the No. 2 broadcast talk show in late-night in the key Adult demo.

"Nightline" (M-F 12:35 a.m.)

For the week of March 25, 2013, ABC's "Nightline" averaged 1.485 million Total Viewers, 666,000 Adults 25-54 and 483,000 Adults 18-49, according to Nielsen Media Research. For the 2nd week in a row, "Nightline" was up over the previous week across all key target demos: Total Viewers (+3%), Adults 25-54 (+4%) and Adults 18-49 (+1%) - 1.444 million, 638,000 and 479,000, respectively, for w/o 3/18/13. In fact, "Nightline" hit 4-week highs in all 3 Nielsen measures - since w/o 2/25/13.

"Nightline" outdrew CBS' "The Late Late Show" by +70,000 Total Viewers, posting its largest advantage over the CBS program in 8 weeks - since w/o 1/28/13.

On average in its new time period, "Nightline" has improved ABC's performance compared to the same weeks last year in Total Viewers (+10%). In addition, "Nightline" leads CBS' "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" by +92,000 Total Viewers and by +20,000 Adults 25-54.

1Q13:

During 1Q13, in its first quarter in its new time period, ABC's "Nightline" drew 1.601 million Total Viewers, 710,000 Adults 25-54 and 515,000 Adults 18-49, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Compared to 1Q12, "Nightline" improved on ABC's performance in the time period in Total Viewers by +12% (1.429 million).In fact, "Nightline" is delivering ABC largest overall audience in the time period during a 1st quarter in 6 years - since 1Q07. In addition, "Nightline" stood as the only program to see its overall audience grow over the year-ago quarter, as both CBS' "The Late Late Show" (-2%) and NBC's "Late Night" (-3%) each lost viewers.

"Nightline" beat CBS' "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" during 1Q13 by +103,000 Total Viewers and +24,000 Adults 25-54.

Late-Night (Week of Mar 25): TOTAL VIEWERS A18-49(000)

ABC 2,239,000 750,000

CBS 2,093,000 667,000

NBC 2,166,000 690,000

Late-Night (1st Qtr 2013): TOTAL VIEWERS A18-49(000)

ABC 2,314,000 801,000

CBS 2,289,000 699,000

NBC 2,187,000 726,000

Please note: Due to coverage of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, the Thursday and Friday telecasts of CBS' "Letterman" and "Ferguson" are excluded from their weekly averages. The Friday telecasts of NBC's "Leno," "Fallon" and "Carson Daly" were all re-titled and were not included in their weekly averages.

Source: The Nielsen Company, Live + Same Day National Program Ratings for weeks of 3/25/13, 3/18/13 & 3/26/12 or as dated. Most Current - Q1 2013 (12/31/12 - 3/29/13, "JKL" and "Nightline" commence on 1/8/13) and Q1 2012 (12/26/11 - 3/25/12). Comparisons based on 000s.

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