For a few brief nights after Jay Leno returned to "The Tonight Show," it looked as though he and David Letterman were going to be fighting for the lead every night, with Letterman winning his fair share.
But more than a month into Leno's return, that's no longer the case.
After a couple of early Letterman victories among young adults, Leno has taken a firm lead among total viewers and adults 18-49, and Letterman has lost virtually all the gains he made in Leno's absence.
For the week ended April 4, NBC's "Tonight" scored its largest advantage over CBS's "Late Show" in total viewers in four weeks and tied its largest margin among 18-49s in the past month.
"Tonight" averaged 4.2 million viewers, 1 million, or 32 percent, ahead of "Late Show." ABC's "Nightline" also finished ahead of Letterman with 3.7 million.
Among 18-49s, "Tonight" led by 25 percent with a 1.1 rating to "Late Show's" 0.9. "Nightline" also averaged a 0.9.
Leno has now won all 25 nights in total viewers since he returned from his brief run in primetime and 23 of 25 nights among 18-49s.
Before Leno's return, the sense of media people was that the two would jockey for No. 1 for some time but that eventually Leno would regain the lead. The question was just how long that would take.
The answer, now so evident, was not very long at all.
Letterman was averaging 4.1 million before Leno came back, and even the week of his rival's return he averaged 3.7 million. But from then on it was a steady downhill slide to last week's 3.2 million.
Some Letterman viewers may have switched to Leno while others may have simply drifted away.
Leno, too, has seen his viewership fall since his debut. He averaged 5.6 million in his first week back, and he's down from the 2008-'09 season, when he averaged 5.2 million.
But he's well above the 2.8 million Conan O'Brien was averaging before his ouster.
For all the media outcry over how poorly NBC handled O'Brien, it appears not to have hurt Leno upon his return.
***
In other dayparts for the week ended April 4, NBC’s “Meet the Press” was the most-watched Sunday morning show on April 4 with 2.77 million tuning in, followed by CBS’s “Face the Nation” with 2.34 million, ABC’s “This Week” with 2.17 million and “Fox News Sunday” with 987,000. Among the 25-54 demographic, NBC averaged a 0.7 rating, with CBS and ABC at a 0.6 and Fox at 0.3. All four shows were all labeled as specials due to the Easter holiday and won’t be included in weekly or season-to-date averages.
In morning shows, NBC’s “Today” was first for the week with 5.04 million total viewers, followed by ABC’s “Good Morning America” with 4.23 million and CBS’s “The Early Show” at 2.49 million. “Today” averaged a 3.9 household rating and a 15 share, with “Good Morning America” at 3.2/13 and “Early Show” at 1.9/7.
In evening network news, NBC’s “Nightly News with Brian Williams” was first with 7.75 million total viewers and a 1.8 rating among adults 25-54. ABC’s “World News with Diane Sawyer” averaged 7.07 million viewers and a 1.5 rating, followed by CBS’s “Evening News with Katie Couric” with 5.16 million and a 1.3 rating.
Daytime ratings for the most recent week weren’t immediately available.
|
SUNDAY MORNING SHOW RATINGS*
Week ending April 4, 2010
Sunday averages |
|
Program |
Network |
Households |
|
|
Rtg% |
Shr |
Adults 25-54 |
Total viewers (millions) |
|
Meet the Press |
NBC |
1.9 |
6 |
0.7 |
2.766
|
|
Face the Nation
|
CBS |
1.7 |
5 |
0.6 |
2.344 |
|
This Week |
ABC |
1.6 |
5 |
0.6 |
2.171 |
|
News Sunday
|
Fox |
0.7 |
2 |
0.3 |
0.987 |
|
* All four Sunday public affairs shows were all labeled as specials due to the Easter holiday and won’t be included in weekly or season to date averages.
Source: Nielsen |
|
LATE-NIGHT RATINGS*
Week Ending April 4, 2009
Five-day averages |
|
Program |
Network |
People 2+ |
Adults 18-49 |
|
Total viewers (millions) |
Rtg% |
|
Tonight Show with Jay Leno |
NBC |
4.2 |
1.1 |
|
Nightline
|
ABC |
3.7 |
0.9 |
|
Late Show with David Letterman |
CBS |
3.2 |
0.9 |
|
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson |
CBS |
1.7 |
0.5 |
|
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon |
NBC |
1.6 |
0.6 |
|
Jimmy Kimmel Live |
ABC |
1.6 |
0.5 |
|
Last Call with
Carson Daly |
NBC |
0.9 |
0.4 |
|
* Monday's "Last Call" and Friday's "Kimmel" were encores. Friday NBC telecasts were re-titled due to the Good Friday holiday and are excluded from these averages.
Source: Nielsen |
|
MORNING SHOW RATINGS
Week Ending April 4, 2009
Five-day averages |
|
Program |
Network |
Households |
People 2+ |
|
Rtg% |
Shr |
Total viewers (millions) |
|
Today
|
NBC |
3.9 |
15 |
5.040 |
|
Good Morning
America
|
ABC |
3.2 |
13 |
4.230 |
|
Early Show |
CBS |
1.9 |
7 |
2.490 |
|
Source: Nielsen |
|
EVENING NETWORK NEWS RATINGS
Week Ending April 4, 2009
Five-day averages |
|
Program |
Network |
25-54s |
People 2+ |
|
Rtg% |
Total viewers (millions) |
|
NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams
|
NBC |
1.8 |
7.746 |
|
ABC World News with Diane Sawyer
|
ABC |
1.5 |
7.068 |
|
CBS Evening News with Katie Couric
|
CBS |
1.3 |
5.160 |
|
Source: Nielsen |
|
SYNDICATION
Ranked on Households
Week Ending March 28, 2009 |
|
# |
PROGRAMS |
Syndicator |
Households |
|
US
Rtg% |
(000) |
|
1
|
WHEEL OF FORTUNE
|
CTD
|
6.4
|
7303
|
|
2
|
JEOPARDY
|
CTD
|
5.4
|
6244
|
|
3
|
TWO-HALF MEN-SYN (AT)
|
WB
|
4.8
|
5470
|
|
4
|
ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT(AT)
|
CTD
|
4.7
|
5440
|
|
5
|
JUDGE JUDY (AT)
|
CTD
|
4.6
|
5290
|
|
6
|
OPRAH WINFREY SHOW
|
CTD
|
3.8
|
4377
|
|
7
|
CSI NEW YORK-SYN(AT)
|
CTD
|
3.4
|
3914
|
|
8
|
FAMILY GUY-MF-SYN (AT)
|
2/T
|
3.3
|
3799
|
|
9
|
EVRY LVS RAYMOND-SYN(AT)
|
CTD
|
3.0
|
3496
|
|
9
|
INSIDE EDITION (AT)
|
CTD
|
3.0
|
3458
|
|
11
|
OFFICE-SYN (AT)
|
NBU
|
2.9
|
3290
|
|
12
|
SEINFELD (AT)
|
SPT
|
2.8
|
3186
|
|
13
|
GEORGE LOPEZ (AT)
|
WB
|
2.7
|
3126
|
|
13
|
LAW & ORDER:CI-WKL (AT)
|
NBU
|
2.7
|
3129
|
|
15
|
TWO-HALF MEN WKND B (AT)
|
WB
|
2.6
|
2987
|
|
16
|
DR. OZ SHOW (AT)
|
SPT
|
2.5
|
2866
|
|
16
|
DR. PHIL SHOW (AT)
|
CTD
|
2.5
|
2888
|
|
16
|
KING OF THE HILL-SYN(AT)
|
2/T
|
2.5
|
2862
|
|
16
|
CSI MIAMI-SYN (AT)
|
CTD
|
2.5
|
2877
|
|
20
|
SEINFELD-WKND (AT)
|
SPT
|
2.4
|
2729
|
|
20
|
MILLIONAIRE (AT)
|
DAD
|
2.4
|
2705
|
|
22
|
LIST OF A LIFETIME 7
|
NBU
|
2.3
|
2637
|
|
22
|
LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY
|
DAD
|
2.3
|
2677
|
|
24
|
JUDGE JOE BROWN (AT)
|
CTD
|
2.2
|
2537
|
|
24
|
ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT WKD
|
CTD
|
2.2
|
2527
|
|
24
|
ACCESS
HOLLYWOOD (AT)
|
NBU
|
2.2
|
2514
|
|
24
|
ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW
|
WB
|
2.2
|
2581
|
|
Source: Nielsen |
