RATINGS: THE TONIGHT SHOW's Sunday Original Tops The Late-Night Week

A special Sunday original telecast of "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" has topped the late-night talk-show week of Oct. 14-18 in adults 18-49 and total viewers, while Monday-through-Friday encore telecasts have led those nights in 18-49 over a mostly original week of "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and rebroadcasts of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

According to "live plus same day" ratings from Nielsen Media Research, the Sunday edition of "Tonight," which followed primetime Eagles-Cowboys NFL coverage, averaged a 0.74 rating in 18-49 and 2.375 million viewers overall, MAKING IT the top-rated late-night talk-show telecast of the week.

The 0.74 is the highest rating for a late-night talk show so far this season and best since a Sunday, Sept. 8 "Tonight" telecast (0.80) that also followed primetime NFL coverage.

"Tonight's" Monday-through-Friday encores last week averaged a 0.34 rating in adults 18-49, to outscore the 0.33 of "Kimmel's" week of four originals and one encore and the 0.29 of "Colbert's" rebroadcasts.

Last week at 12:35 a.m. ET, encore telecasts of "Late Night with Seth Meyers" averaged a 0.20 rating in adults 18-49 to lead the 12:35 a.m. ET hour over "The Late Late Show with James Corden" (0.18). Season to date, Seth leads Corden and ABC's "Nightline" in 10 of 10 key demographics - adults, men and women 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54, plus total viewers.

On the digital front, "Tonight" ranks season to date as the #1 most-viewed Entertainment Youtube Channel, having amassed 230 million views, topping the nearest non-NBC competitor ("Jimmy Kimmel Live") by more than 55 million views (Source: ListenFirst Media, 9/23/19-10/20/19. LF// TV Universe // Episodic, Brand Type: TV Shows, ListenFirst Video Views [YouTube], excludes WWE & Kids programming). "Tonight" has also delivered three of the five most-viewed Youtube videos of existing programs thus far this season with his interviews of Joaquin Phoenix (10.6 million), Billie Eilish (7.8 million) and Taylor Swift (7.6 million) (Source: ListenFirst Media, 9/23/19-10/20/19. LF// TV Universe // Episodic, Content Rankings, ListenFirst Video Views [YouTube], excludes WWE & Kids programming and trailers of upcoming seasons and series).

Year-to-date, "Tonight" also dominates, having generated over 2 billion Youtube views to easily rank as the #1 most-watched entertainment program (Source: ListenFirst Media, 01/01/19-10/20/19. LF// TV Universe // Episodic, Brand Type: TV Shows, ListenFirst Video Views [YouTube], excludes WWE and Kids programming). "Tonight" is up +14% year over year in Youtube viewing.

On the social engagement front, "Tonight" also easily ranks as the #1 most social late-night program of the year, having earned more than 16 million Total Interactions across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (Source: Nielsen Social SCR, 01/01/19-10/20/19. Late Fringe Daypart, Series Only. Linear Metric).

"Late Night with Seth Meyers" has accumulated 551 million views for the 2019 year to date on YouTube, up +121% from the same time-frame last year. "Late Night" has achieved its four best individual weeks of Youtube viewing ever over the last six months. "A Closer Look" segments make-up 18 of "Late Night's" top 20 most-viewed videos of 2019. The "Late Night with Seth Meyers" channel has scored its most-viewed video ever this year with Seth and Rihanna Go Day Drinking, which has now crossed the 11 million view mark.

So far for the new 2019-20 season, "Late Night" has drawn 65 million Youtube Views, up +180% from the same period last week. The gains have been fueled by 'A Closer Look,' which have totaled a combined 31 million views. In each of the three weeks of originals this season, one or more of Seth's 'A Closer Look' have ranked as the most-viewed non guest-celebrity-involved late-night Youtube video(s) of the week, across the broadcast competition.(Source: ListenFirst Media Content Rankings; L F // TV UNIVERSE // EPISODIC; Late-Fringe Daypart; ListenFirst Content Video Views [YouTube]; 9/23-9/29, 9/30-10/6, 10/7-10/13).

"A Little Late with Lilly Singh" has amassed 22 million views on Youtube since its premiere. This ranks well ahead of the first four weeks of competing late-night or similar comedy/talk programs, including "Lights Out with David Spade" (10 million) and "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee" (10.3 million) (Source: ListenFirst Media, ListenFirst Video Views [YouTube], first Premiere + first 30 days post-premiere. Includes talk series that premiered after 2016).

LATE-NIGHT WEEKLY AVERAGES
(According to viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of Oct. 14-18. 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.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight" 0.74 rating, 7 share *
NBC "Tonight" 0.34 rating, 3 share (R)
CBS "Late Show," 0.29/2 (R)
ABC "Kimmel," 0.33/2 *

12:35-1:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Nightline," 0.22/2

12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 0.20/2 (R)
CBS "Late Late Show," 0.18/2 (R)

1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "A Little Late with Lilly Singh," 0.14/2 (R)

TOTAL VIEWERS

11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 2.375 million viewers *
NBC "Tonight," 1.717 million viewers (R)
CBS "Late Show," 2.104 million viewers (R)
ABC "Kimmel," 2.033 million viewers *

12:35-1:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Nightline," 1.194 million viewers

12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 0.971 million viewers (R)
CBS "The Late Late Show," 1.054 million viewers (R)

1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "A Little Late with Lilly Singh," 0.617 million viewers (R)

* "Tonight" ran one original last week on Sunday night following a primetime NFL telecast. Friday's "Kimmel" was a rebroadcast.

SEASON AVERAGES

ADULTS 18-49

11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight" 0.43 rating, 3 share
CBS "Late Show," 0.43/3
ABC "Kimmel," 0.33/3

12:35-1:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Nightline," 0.22/2

12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 0.24/3
CBS "The Late Late Show," 0.19/2

1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "A Little Late with Lilly Singh," 0.15/2

TOTAL VIEWERS

11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 1.971 million viewers
CBS "Late Show," 3.566 million viewers
ABC "Kimmel," 1.915 million viewers

12:35-1:05 a.m. ET
ABC "Nightline," 1.163 million viewers

12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 1.256 million viewers
CBS "The Late Late Show," 1.245 million viewers

1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "A Little Late with Lilly Singh," 0.670 million viewers

SELECTED CABLE RESULTS, WEEK OF OCT. 14-18

NATIONAL ADULT 18-49 RATING

Comedy Central, 11-11:30 p.m., "The Daily Show," 0.18
Comedy Central, 11:30-midnight ET, "Lights Out with David Spade," 0.10

TBS, 11-11:30 p.m., "Conan," 0.14 (R) **

Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 0.40
Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 0.32

Each adult 18-49 rating point equals 1.29 million viewers.

TOTAL VIEWERS

Comedy Central, 11-11:30 p.m., "The Daily Show," 0.622 million viewers
Comedy Central, 11:30-midnight ET, "Lights Out with David Spade," 0.267 million viewers

TBS, 11-11:30 p.m., "Conan," 0.407 million viewers (R) **

Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 0.771 million viewers
Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 0.584 million viewers

** Preempted on Monday and Tuesday.

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