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NBC’s primetime woes are beginning to spill into late-night. Both The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and Late Night With Jimmy Fallon suffered double-digit year-to-year declines last month, giving CBS’ late-night lineup historic wins. Late Show With David Letterman (0.9/4 in 18-49, 3.41 million total viewers) posted its first November sweep victory over The Tonight Show (0.8/3, 3.60 million) among adults 18-49 in 17 years, since Late Show‘s second season in 1994. Late Show was even in 18-49 vs. last November (down 8% in total viewers), while Tonight Show was down 20% (4% in total viewers). The latter still prevailed in total viewers. CBS’ Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson (0.6/3 in 18-49, 1.63 million) was the only late-night show on the broadcast networks to grow year-to-year in 18-49. It was up 20% (down 7% in total viewers) to post the franchise’s first ever demo November sweep victory over NBC’s Late Night (0.5/3, 1.73 million). The latter show, currently hosted by Jimmy Fallon, was down 17% year-to-year and flat in total viewers, a category it won. ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! (0.6/3, 1.97 million) tied Craig Ferguson and beat Fallon. It was even in 18-49 vs. last year and was the only broadcast late-night show to post growth in total viewers, up 7%.
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A wonderful time-delayed bonus from Jeff Zucker (remember him?).
The reason for the ratings slide amongst all of these borefest late night “comedy” shows? Everyone is tuning over to RED EYE on Fox News as it’s the best late night show on the air right now!
LOL
Nobody younger than 67 years old watches Fox News! And that’s the TRUTH!
The real reason why young viewers stopped watching late night shows is because they’re playing VIDEOGAMES.
This past month saw the release of the uber-popular Modern Warfare 3 and the latest Legend of Zelda, Skyward Sword.
Kids are playing games, not watching old tin-foil-wearing old farts on Fox News spinning the truth! LOL
Red Eye is a guilty pleasure.
Add to that getting to watch Bob Beckell’s blood pressure skyrocket on The Five and Greg Gutfeld is a key member of two of the most entertaining shows on Fox News.
I agree and I have at least 20 years before hitting 67.
Welll the chock here is that it took seventeen years. Lettermams victory over Leno is loooong overdue….
It’s like watching an old Ray Harryhousen stop-motion action sequence of dinosaurs fighting each other in the jungle.
But less interesting and relevant.
If you’re a comedy fan and not watching Ferguson (you have a DVR, use it!) you’re not that much of a comedy fan. What he does five nights a week is an amazing feat, flying by the seat of his pants while all your other talk show hosts are getting so heavily scripted (Jay).
He’s brilliant. You don’t watch Craig’s show for the guests, you watch it for Craig and his robot skeleton sidekick and the big cash prize and the utter deconstruciton of the format.
I think he’s getting more scripted but I’ll still take Craig F’s monologues over anyone else. C’mon: a “robot” sidekick?
True, Craig Ferguson is unbelievably funny.
Three Ferguson interns in a row, above!
I wish!
Hardly
Totally agreed. In my opinion, he’s hands down, the best of the bunch… unpredictable, off the cuff, hilarious.
Both Leno and Letterman have long overstayed their welcome. But, Letterman beating Leno has little to do with the quality of either show – it’s simply indicative of the fact that fewer and fewer people are watching NBC at night.
HA-HA-HA!!! finally,Dave beats that ass Leno-it’s about time! I haven’t liked nbc ever since they screwed Conan over to put Leno back on late-night. As they say:what goes around comes around.I’m also happy for Craig’s late,late show because he is very funny. Craig comes across in such a way as to make us actually enjoy watching his show. IMHO:Craig is the funniest & most entertaining of the late-night group. Memo to nbc: As Craig’s robot co-host would say:”IN YOUR PANTS”!!! Thank you.
But didn’t “Nightline” top the 11:30 P.M. (ET/PT) half-hour among both overall viewers and key demographics during the November “sweeps”??
Headline is mis-leading
The Tonight Show – 3.60 total viewers
Late Show With David Letterman – 3.41 million total viewers
You would really be making a points except A) the 18-49 is all that counts and B) Letterman beats Leno i total ratings all the time.
but nice try.
Letterman topped Leno in the 18-49 category for the first time in 17 years? Big deal. That’s hardly anything to brag about. Imagine someone boasting, “Yeah, man, I won once since 1994. That’s so cool.” Errr, no.
18-49 isn’t all that counts. By the way, Leno and Letterman were actually equal in 18-34 with 0.5/02 each. So much for Letterman’s lead with the youth. LOL. The total amount of viewers does matter — Leno came out first as usual (3.6 million) compared to Letterman (3.4 million).
It’s funny how people make excuses. If they can’t win in total viewers, they come up a lame justification. Face it, Leno is still popular in many parts of the country.
Networks and advertisers care about the demo rating, not total viewers. That’s why you have shows like Harry’s Law, which is routinely the highest rated show on NBC, being in danger of cancellation because it skews way too old.
Love to see Ferguson winning his hour. As the above commenter nicely said, he’s the best late night guy because he doesn’t play by the late night guy playbook.
I find his mugging and subtle “aren’t I brilliant” demeanor and sweetened sounding audience annoying and cloying over the long haul, however admirable his free-form attempts may be.
Totally agree. Those are the reasons I find the show unwatchable.
What is Kimmel doing on TV?
Hope Late Night hangs in there. Jimmy Fallon’s settled in pretty well. The interviews are still a little fawning but the comedy bits are funny and the monologue’s gotten much better.
This is not just about NBC prime time. Leno never came close to regaining his ratings before Conan-gate. And from the article above it’s clear that he’s dropped a lot more than any other show.
I know the only reason I frequently miss Fallon is because I never watch Jay anymore, because he’s a rat, and thus I’m not tuned to NBC when Fallon comes on. Plus, Kevin Eubanks was a major reason a lot of people watched Leno. Kevin’s gone and jay’s an unfunny scum-wad. Zero reason to tune in.
NBC, just know that a lot of people are avoiding YOUR PRIME TIME LINE UP because Jay is still there.
Thank you, M.T.
what about nightline? didn’t that beat everyone?
NBC’s primetime line up has been in the toilet for years and still Jay beat Dave. There’s a lot more to this than a weak prime time line up. Jay’s show just isn’t very good any more, isn’t funny, feels dated and old and, well, he’s pretty much despised by lots of people.
The ratings for Dave and Jay are bad. 3 million viewers? Jay used to have 6 million viewers nightly. Way to destroy the storied franchise.
I haven’t watched Letterman or Leno in more than three years, but I gotta’ admire Dave’s ability to stick with it over the decades in his quest to beat Jay. Craigson Fergy of course is one of the only real performers left in ALL of filmed entertainment. Score one for Immigration. He (as does his boss David Letterman) gets it. His job is to entertain people. Not to be a “celebrity,” not to be a pretentious hipster douche bag or whatever other ailment afflicts most Americans today. Craig is in his prime. Dave belongs to a different era.
Jay Leno is a has-been! Letterman is still funny (for an old guy). Jay is just old! His writers are stale and his time has past! He screwed Conan and now he screwing all of us. Get rid of the dude! I rather watch paint dry.
Yes! YES! Where’s Conan? Where is the Conedog?
Dear NBC,
You miss the Conedawg now? Got a little sour in grapes? Little poooo in your stew?
This makes me happy, long live David Letterman, long live the King
The comedy bits are not my cup of tea, so I skip the first 35 – 40 minutes of the show each evening.
The interviews on The Late Late Show keep me coming back. The guest doesn’t matter. Craig Ferguson turns it into a conversation that rivals a train wreck for fascination.
Thrilled for Ferguson. The funniest and smartest guy in late night. Conan for grown-ups. I liked it better a few years ago when he came on wearing black turtlenecks. Very cool, and sexy. (I assume the network is making him wear suits; in that case, they could at least provide Letterman’s tailor.)
Nightline beat Leno too. Let’s think about this for a second. NBC is paying Jay Leno a gazillion dollars to finish last in late night. Last.
Fallon would be a big improvement. Anyone would be a big improvement over Jay Leno, cuz he carries the stench of scandal. I bet Jon Stewart would jump at an opportunity to host Tonight for half the money you’re paying Leno, if for no other reason than to kick Jay out after what he did to Stewart pal O’Brien.
Stewart is best suited for Comedy Central. It wouldn’t be the same if he moved to NBC or any of the other networks.
Nightline also beat Letterman in the ratings. LOL. It’s obvious that thinking isn’t your strong suit.
You people just dont get it. Even tho Leno is running on fumes nowadays, compared to his prime, hes still light years better that Leftermnan! Its just that both are like 40 yr old QBs still trying to hang onto their original teams, and their starting days are over! Its time to retire both of them, and bring in new blood, and who wont be so liberal!
NBC has been in the dumps in primetime for years, but never so low as it is now. Even the cancelled “Jay Leno Show” from two years ago was getting better ratings than the current NBC lineup at 10:00. And when Jay does have a decent lead-in – like he did this week when “Law and Order: SVU” did particularly well, he creams the competition.
But the younger crowd is not as interested in him, and from a creative standpoint, the show seems frozen in time, with low energy. Time to shake things up and bring in someone else (not Conan – he was never mainstream enough, and look at his TBS ratings for proof). I’m surprised that NBC hasn’t been trying out guest hosts as potential replacements. They should have made that a condition of his return to 11:30.
The only way Leno is ever going to leave the tonight show, is in a pine box. I can’t even blame NBC anymore, Leno pushed them into a corner they couldn’t back out of. Leno has destroyed the legacy of The Tonight Show. Rat basterd. GO DAVE! GO CRAIG! GO CONAN. Poor Conan and his shitty ratings.
“The latter still prevailed in total viewers”
good headline Nicki……I’m not a huge fan of any of these, (I usually watch Jon & Steven) but the Tonight Show still led in overall viewers, I know the 18-49 is what really counts, but it’s a little misleading. Happy for Craig. I wish she would have included Coco’s ratings, funny how it was omitted since he’s dropped more than anyone.
Letterman can`t hide his disgust & boredom anymore w/the plugfest format by vapid guests. It`s why i watch. Leno on the other hand, should retire & build his car museum.
P.S. Fallon`s grown into the job & quite good now.
I’ve never understood how Leno has beat Dave for so long. It’s a no contest for me. I’ve been watching Letterman since College. Leno is a nerdy fool and a horrible interviewer. Dave is just cool.
I’d much rather go to a bar and have a beer with Dave.
I couldn’t spend a minute with bobble-head.