LENO, FALLON Top Competition in Weekly Ratings War

NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" have delivered dominant wins versus their broadcast time-period competition for the week of Aug. 26-30.

The two programs generated bigger audiences than the timeslot competition in adults 18-49, total viewers and all other key measures. Note that Fallon, "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" aired encores last week and "Late Show with David Letterman" was in rebroadcast on Friday.

"The Tonight Show" and "Late Night" generated their biggest audiences in 18-49 and total viewers in three weeks, since Aug. 5-9. Leno averaged 1.016 million viewers 18-49 and 3.516 million viewers overall while Fallon delivered 615,000 viewers 18-49 and 1.662 million overall.

For the week, Fallon's rebroadcasts delivered more viewers 18-34 (246,000) than Letterman's week of four originals and one encore (222,000) and "Kimmel's" week of encores (177,000).

Note that, compared with Fallon, "Late Show" and "Kimmel" start an hour earlier when viewership levels are significantly higher. In fact, in viewers 18-49, Fallon's rebroadcasts topped Kimmel's encores (615,000 vs. 599,000), despite "Late Night's" later start time.

Leno has now delivered bigger 18-49 audiences than "Late Show" for the last 41 weeks in a row and topped "Kimmel" for 31 of their 34 head-to-head weeks. In total viewers, Leno has out-delivered "Late Show" for 45 weeks in a row and "Kimmel" for 34 of 34 weeks.

Fallon has now generated bigger 18-49 audiences than "Late Late Show" for 46 of the last 467 weeks and prevailed in total viewers for 43 of the last 45 weeks. Versus "Nightline" in their head-to-head half-hour, Jimmy has out-delivered the ABC series for 34 of 34 weeks in viewers 18-49 and 20 weeks in a row in total viewers.

Ratings reflect "live plus same day" data from Nielsen Media Research 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."

WEEKLY AVERAGES

(According to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of Aug. 26-30. Ratings reflect "live plus same day" data from Nielsen Media Research 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.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 0.8 rating, 4 share
CBS "Late Show," 0.6/2 *
ABC "Kimmel," 0.5/2 *

12:35-1:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Nightline," 0.3/2

12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 0.5/3 *
CBS "Late Late Show," 0.3/2*

1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.3/2 *

TOTAL VIEWERS

11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 3.5 million viewers
CBS "Late Show," 2.5 million viewers *

ABC "Kimmel," 1.9 million viewers *

12:35-1:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Nightline," 1.3 million viewers

12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 1.7 million viewers *
CBS "Late Late Show," 1.1 million viewers *

1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.9 million viewers*

* "Late Night," "Last Call," "Late Late Show" and "Kimmel" were in rebroadcast last week and Friday's "Late Show" was an encore.

SEASON TO DATE

ADULTS 18-49

11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 0.8 rating, 3 share
CBS "Late Show," 0.7/3
ABC "Kimmel," 0.7/3**

12:35-1:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Nightline," 0.4/2**

12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 0.5/3
CBS "Late Late Show," 0.4/2

1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.3/2

TOTAL VIEWERS

11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 3.5 million viewers
CBS "Late Show," 2.9 million viewers
ABC "Kimmel," 2.4 million viewers**

12:35-1:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Nightline," 1.6 million viewers**

12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 1.7 million viewers
CBS "Late Late Show," 1.4 million viewers

1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.9 million viewers

** Since January 8.

SELECTED CABLE RESULTS, WEEK OF AUG. 26-30

NATIONAL ADULT 18-49 RATING

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

TBS, 11 p.m.-midnight, "Conan," 0.5

Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 1.1
Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 0.7

Each adult 18-49 rating point equals 1.27 million viewers.

TOTAL VIEWERS

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

TBS, 11 p.m.-midnight, "Conan," 1.0 million viewers

Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 2.1 million viewers
Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 1.4 million viewers

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