Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon Wrap Up 1st-Place Second Quarters With Hot Weeks

NBC's late-night lineup has delivered #1 finishes for second quarter of 2011, as "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" has taken its hour over CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman" and ABC's combination of "Nightline" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in viewers 18-49, total viewers and other key categories. At 12:35 a.m. ET, "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" also out-delivered CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" and ABC's "Kimmel" for the second quarter in viewers 18-49 and other key categories.

"Tonight" and "Late Night" finished the quarter on a hot streak, with Jay up over the prior year for each of the last four weeks of the quarter in adults 18-49 and total viewers, while Jimmy was up versus one year ago for the last five consecutive weeks in 18-49 and the last nine weeks in total viewers.

Jay and Jimmy are both up versus their first-quarter audiences in adults 18-49 despite declining rates of homes using television in the second quarter, with Jay up 2 percent (1.283 million adults 18-49 vs. 1.264 million) and Jimmy up 1 percent (823,000 vs. 817,000).

For the concluding week of the quarter, Jimmy Fallon out-rated Letterman in adults 18-34 and adults 18-49, despite starting an hour later than "Late Show." For the week, Jimmy delivered his biggest adult 18-49 audience (899,000) of the 2010-11 season thus far.

Versus results for the prior quarter, Jay more than doubled his lead over "Late Show" to a 22 percent margin among adult 18-49 viewers in the second quarter (1.283 million vs. 1.048 million), up from a 10 percent margin in the first quarter. In total viewers, Jay increased his margin over "Late Show" to 18 percent in the second quarter (3.876 million vs. 3.280 million), up from 8 percent in the first quarter. Jay also beat his margins for the quarter before that, the fourth quarter of 2010, when he also prevailed over "Late Show" by 10 percent in viewers 18-49 and 8 percent in total viewers.

At 12:35 a.m. ET, Jimmy Fallon increased his lead over CBS's "Late Late Show" to 22 percent in viewers 18-49 (823,000 vs. 672,000), up from a 19 percent advantage in the first quarter. In total viewers, Jimmy led by a 9 percent margin (1.773 million vs. 1.625 million), up from a 3 percent win in the first quarter. Jimmy also beat his margins from two quarter ago, the fourth quarter of 2010, when he won over "Late Late Show" by 17 percent in viewers 18-49 and "Late Late Show" held a 2 percent advantage in total viewers.

Through the quarter, Jay ranked #1 versus "Late Show" for 13 of 13 weeks in adult 18-49 viewers and 13 of 13 weeks in total viewers. At 12:35 a.m. ET, Jimmy Fallon also finished #1 every week versus "Late Late Show" in 18-49 viewers and led nine of 13 in total viewers, including the last seven in a row.

"Tonight" delivered bigger audiences than "Late Show" for the second quarter in every key ratings category: adults, men and women 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54, plus total viewers.

Jimmy Fallon out-delivered "Late Late Show" for the second quarter in adults, men and women 18-34; adults, men and women 18-49; adults and women 25-54; and total viewers.

At 1:35 a.m. ET, "Last Call with Carson Daly" was up for the second quarter versus one year ago by 2 percent in 18-49 viewers (487,000 vs. 477,000) and 4 percent in total viewers (960,000 vs. 919,000).

Jay and Jimmy concluded their second quarters with strong results for the closing week of the period, June 20-24, as "Tonight" improved on its audiences for the same week last year by 7 percent in both 18-49 (1.364 million vs. 1.276 million) and total viewers (4.090 million vs. 3.834 million), "Late Night" was up 24 percent in 18-49 (899,000 vs. 724,000) and "Last Call" grew by 30 percent in 18-49 (559,000 vs. 431,000).

For the week of June 20-24, "Late Night" delivered its biggest adult 18-49 audience of the 2010-11 season to date. The last time "Late Night" topped last week's average 899,000 adults 18-49 was the week of September 6-10, 2010, 41 weeks ago.

"Late Night" last week out-delivered "Late Show" in viewers 18-49 by a 6 percent margin (899,000 vs. 848,000) and viewers 18-34 by a 36 percent margin (366,000 vs. 270,000), despite starting an hour later than "Late Show." Note that Friday's "Late Show" was an encore.

WEEKLY AVERAGES

(According to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of June 20-24. Ratings reflect "live plus same day" data from Nielsen Media Research unless otherwise noted. Second quarter and 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.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 1.0 rating, 4 share
CBS "Late Show," 0.6/3*

11:35 p.m.-12:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Nightline," 0.8/3

12:05-1:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 0.4/2*

12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 0.7/4
CBS "Late Late Show," 0.4/2 (in encore telecasts)

1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.4/3 (in encore telecasts)

TOTAL VIEWERS

11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 4.1 million viewers
CBS "Late Show," 2.8 million viewers*

11:35 p.m.-12:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Nightline," 3.6 million viewers

12:05-1:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 1.5 million viewers*

12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 1.9 million viewers
CBS "Late Late Show," 1.3 million viewers (in encore telecasts)

1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 1.0 million viewers (in encore telecasts)

* Friday's "Late Show" and "Kimmel" were encores.

SECOND QUARTER 2011

ADULTS 18-49

11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 1.0 rating, 4 share
CBS "Late Show," 0.8/3

11:35 p.m.-12:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Nightline," 1.0/4

12:05-1:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 0.6/3

12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 0.6/3
CBS "Late Late Show," 0.5/3

1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.4/3

TOTAL VIEWERS

11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 3.9 million viewers
CBS "Late Show," 3.3 million viewers

11:35 p.m.-12:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Nightline," 4.1 million viewers

12:05-1:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 1.8 million viewers

12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 1.8 million viewers
CBS "Late Late Show," 1.6 million viewers

1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 1.0 million viewers

SEASON TO DATE

ADULTS 18-49

11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 1.0 rating, 4 share
CBS "Late Show," 0.9/4

11:35 p.m.-12:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Nightline," 1.0/4

12:05-1:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 0.5/3

12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 0.6/3
CBS "Late Late Show," 0.5/3

1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.4/3

TOTAL VIEWERS

11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 3.9 million viewers
CBS "Late Show," 3.5 million viewers

11:35 p.m.-12:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Nightline," 4.0 million viewers

12:05-1:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 1.7 million viewers

12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 1.8 million viewers
CBS "Late Late Show," 1.7 million viewers

1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 1.0 million viewers

SELECTED CABLE RESULTS, WEEK OF JUNE 20-24

NATIONAL ADULT 18-49 RATING

Comedy Central, 11-11:30 p.m. ET, "The Daily Show," 0.7

Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m.-midnight ET, "The Colbert Report," 0.5

TBS, 11 p.m.-midnight, "Conan," 0.4

TBS, midnight-1 a.m., "Lopez Tonight," 0.2

Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 0.9

Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 0.6

Each adult 18-49 rating point equals 1.31 million viewers

TOTAL VIEWERS

Comedy Central, 11-11:30 p.m. "The Daily Show," 1.8 million

Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m.-midnight ET, "The Colbert Report," 1.2 million

TBS, 11 p.m.-midnight, "Conan," 0.8 million

TBS, midnight-1 a.m., "Lopez Tonight," 0.5 million

Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 2.4 million

Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 1.4 million

 

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