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Late night: O'Brien
loses to Letterman

Leno lead evaporates in his first week as host

By Kevin Downey
Jun 11, 2009

The hefty ratings edge Conan O’Brien inherited from Jay Leno didn't last very long.

After kicking off with huge numbers last week as host of NBC’s "Tonight Show," Conan O’Brien has seen his ratings slip each night.

More troubling, on Tuesday O’Brien fell to third place behind CBS’s "Late Show with David Letterman" and ABC’s "Nightline."

"Letterman" had a 3.4 household rating, up from a 2.9 a year earlier, based on Nielsen metered-market overnight ratings, while "Nightline" pulled a 3.1. O’Brien earned a 2.9.

Long the No. 2 competitor to "Tonight Show," "Letterman" almost never ranked No. 1 ahead of "Tonight" when Leno was at the helm.

Tuesday’s ratings partly reflect a decidedly unusual night on television.

NBC aired a thrilling NHL Stanley Cup game that upended the network’s primetime lineup in the western half of the country. Many affiliates aired a mishmash of local shows after the game instead of NBC’s regular programming, which presumably drove away a number of viewers who otherwise might have stayed around for O'Brien.

And ABC had an exciting NBA finals game, which pushed back the start times of its late night shows. "Nightline" got the benefit of the ratings spillover from basketball, which probably added a half a point to its ratings. The prior night it drew a 2.6.

But even allowing for those factors, O’Brien and NBC have good reason to be worried based on "Tonight's" steady rating slide.

On O'Brien's first night out, "Tonight" generated a lofty 7.1 household rating, well above the average rating Leno had been pulling most nights. Much of that was the result of the heavy promotion NBC put behind O’Brien taking over the show.

On the second night, the show slipped to a 5, then on the third to a 4.3. On the fourth it pulled a 3.8 and the fifth a 3.5.

This Monday, it slipped further, to a 3.1, before hitting Tuesday's 2.9.

Clearly, O'Brien is still getting used to the larger stage of "Tonight" after years hosting "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," but the numbers suggest he's going to have to switch up his game if he expects to hold the lead Leno left him.

As Media Life TV critic Tom Conroy observed in reviewing O'Brien's debut, what worked for the old show--essentially an outsider throwing spitballs at the powers that be in the style of Letterman--won't hack it on that much bigger stage.

"It was an underwhelming start, and it suggests O’Brien has some growing to do if he wants to keep 'The Tonight Show' the 800-pound gorilla of late night. 'Letterman lite' won’t do."

***

In daypart ratings for the week ended May 31, the final week of NBC’s “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” led with 7.0 million total viewers, followed by ABC’s “Nightline” with 2.8 million and CBS’s “The Late Show with David Letterman” with 2.6 million. In late late night, NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” drew 2.5 million viewers, with CBS’s “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” bringing in 1.6 million, NBC’s “Last Call with Carson Daly” 1.3 million and ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” 1.2 million. Among 18-49s, “Tonight Show” averaged a 2.0 rating, followed by “Nightline” and “Late Show” at 0.7 (with “Late Show” airing encores). In late late night, “Late Night” averaged a 0.9 rating, with “Late Late Show” and “Last Call” at 0.5 and “Kimmel” at 0.4 (with encores for “Kimmel” and “Last Call”).

NBC’s “Meet the Press” was again the most-watched Sunday morning show with 2.63 million tuning in, followed by CBS’s “Face the Nation” with 2.49 million viewers, ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” with 2.43 million and Fox “News Sunday” with 1.14 million. Among the 25-54 demographic, NBC and CBS averaged a 0.7 rating followed by ABC at 0.6 and Fox at 0.3.

In morning shows, NBC’s “Today” was first for the week with 5.5 million total viewers, followed by ABC’s “Good Morning America” with 4.2 million and CBS’s “Early Show” with 2.6 million. “Today” averaged a 4.2 household rating and a 15 share, followed by “Good Morning America” at 3.2/11 and “Early Show” at 2.0/7.

In daytime for the week ended May 24, CBS was first with 3.36 million total viewers, ABC second with 2.84 million and NBC third with 2.53 million. Among women 18-49, ABC was first with a 1.3 rating, followed by NBC at 1.2 and CBS at 1.0.

In evening network news for the week ended June 7, NBC’s “Nightly News with Brian Williams” was first with 7.96 million total viewers and a 1.9 rating among adults 25-54. ABC’s “World News with Charles Gibson” averaged 7.15 million viewers and a 1.6 rating, followed by CBS’s “Evening News with Katie Couric” with an all-time low 5.17 million and a 1.3 rating.

SUNDAY MORNING SHOW RATINGS Week ending May 31, 2009 Sunday averages
Program	Network	Households
Program	Network	Rtg%	Shr	Adults 25-54	Total viewers (millions)
Meet the Press	NBC	1.9	6	0.7	2.625
Face the Nation	CBS	1.8	5	0.7	2.491
This Week With George Stephanopoulos	ABC	1.8	5	0.6	2.433
News Sunday	Fox	0.9	3	0.3	1.138
Source: NTI

LATE-NIGHT RATINGS Week Ending May 31, 2009** Five-day averages
Program	Network	People 2+	Adults 18-49
Program	Network	Total viewers (millions)	Rtg%
Tonight Show with Jay Leno	NBC	7.0	2.0
Nightline	ABC	2.8	0.7
Late Show with David Letterman *	CBS	2.6	0.7
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon	NBC	2.5	0.9
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson*	CBS	1.6	0.5
Last Call with Carson Daly	NBC	1.3	0.5
Jimmy Kimmel Live*	ABC	1.2	0.4
* Encore episodes ** Monday's "Last Call" was an encore. Monday telecasts on ABC and CBS are excluded due to the Memorial Day holiday, and Thursday telecasts on ABC are excluded due to a primetime overrun. The Monday and Tuesday "Late Late Shows" were originals. Source: NTI

MORNING SHOW RATINGS Week Ending May 31, 2009 Five-day averages
Program	Network	Households		People 2+
Program	Network	Rtg%	Shr	Total viewers (millions)
Today	NBC	4.2	15	5.5
Good Morning America	ABC	3.2	11	4.2
Early Show	CBS	2.0	7	2.6
Source: NTI

DAYTIME RATINGS Week Ending May 24, 2009 Five-day averages
	Total viewers (millions)	Women 18-49
Network	(millions)	Rtg%
CBS	3.36	1.0
ABC	2.84	1.3
NBC	2.53	1.2
Source: NTI

EVENING NETWORK NEWS RATINGS Week Ending June 7, 2009 Five-day averages
Program	Network	25-54s	People 2+
Program	Network	Rtg%	Total viewers (millions)
NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams	NBC	1.9	7.964
ABC World News with Charles Gibson	ABC	1.6	7.149
CBS Evening News with Katie Couric	CBS	1.3	5.177
Source: Nielsen Media Research

SYNDICATION Ranked on Households Week Ending May 24, 2009
#	PROGRAMS	Syndicator	Households
#	PROGRAMS	Syndicator	US Rtg%	(000)
1	WHEEL OF FORTUNE	CTD	5.9	6775
2	JEOPARDY	CTD	5.0	5768
3	OPRAH WINFREY SHOW	CTD	4.6	5318
4	TWO-HALF MEN-SYN (AT)	WB	4.3	4893
5	ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT(AT)	CTD	3.9	4471
5	JUDGE JUDY (AT)	CTD	3.9	4494
7	FAMILY GUY-MF-SYN (AT)	2/T	3.5	4027
8	CSI NEW YORK-SYN(AT)	CTD	3.3	3785
9	SEINFELD (AT)	SPT	3.2	3608
10	LAW & ORDER:SVU-SYN (AT)	NBU	3.0	3427
11	DR. PHIL SHOW (AT)	CTD	2.8	3260
11	EVRY LVS RAYMOND-SYN(AT)	CTD	2.8	3230
11	INSIDE EDITION (AT)	CTD	2.8	3198
14	WHEEL OF FORTUNE WKND	CTD	2.7	3065
15	GEORGE LOPEZ (AT)	WB	2.6	3002
15	LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY	DAD	2.6	2942
15	SEINFELD-WKND (AT)	SPT	2.6	2970
18	KING OF THE HILL-SYN(AT)	2/T	2.5	2848
19	MILLIONAIRE (AT)	DAD	2.3	2590
19	TWO-HALF MEN WKND B (AT)	WB	2.3	2636
21	KING OF QUEENS-SYN (AT)	SPT	2.2	2571
22	FRIENDS (AT)	WB	2.1	2447
22	TMZ (AT)	WB	2.1	2372
24	COLD CASE-SYN (AT)	WB	2.0	2247
24	GEORGE LOPEZ WKND B (AT)	WB	2.0	2236
24	JUDGE JOE BROWN (AT)	CTD	2.0	2323
24	KING OF QUEENS-WKND (AT)	SPT	2.0	2278
Source: Nielsen Media Research