'Nightline' regains
the lead in late night

ABC news show rises to No. 1 with 3.94M total viewers

By Toni Fitzgerald
Feb 5, 2010

The latest edition of the late-night wars is over, or at least suspended until March 1, when Jay Leno returns to "The Tonight Show."

With Conan O'Brien gone and David Letterman on vacation, ABC's "Nightline" surged ahead for the week ended Jan. 31, though both comedy shows performed pretty well in repeats.

"Nightline" averaged 3.94 million total viewers, 290,000 more than second-place "Late Show with David Letterman" on CBS.

NBC's "Tonight" averaged 2.39 million viewers, right in line with its season average despite the fact that it was in reruns.

And among adults 25-54, "Nightline" and "Late Show" tied, while "Tonight" actually won among 18-49s with a 1.0 to the other shows' 0.9.

That seems to suggest that interest in late night will still be high when Leno returns as "Tonight" host on March 1, after a nine-month absence.

He, of course, succeeds O'Brien, who left the show after refusing NBC's request to move to 12:05 a.m. O'Brien's last show averaged 10.3 million total viewers last month.

"Nightline" has been having a strong season, seemingly benefitting from "Tonight's" loss of viewers during the O'Brien era.

But during the controversy over what would happen to "Tonight" during January, both the NBC show and "Late Show," in which Letterman took shots at his former employer, saw big gains.

***

In dayparts for the week ended Jan. 31, ABC’s “Nightline” led the week among late night with 3.9 million total viewers, followed by CBS’s “The Late Show with David Letterman” at 3.7 million and NBC’s “Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” with 2.4 million. In late late night, CBS’s “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” averaged 1.8 million total viewers, with ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” at 1.7 million, NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” at 1.2 million and NBC’s “Last Call with Carson Daly” at 0.7 million. Among 18-49s, “Tonight” averaged a 1.0 rating, with “Late Show” and “Nightline” at 0.9. In late late night, “Late Night” averaged a 0.6, with “Late Late Show” and “Kimmel” at 0.5 and “Last Call” all at a 0.4. “Tonight,” “Late Show,” “Late Night” and “Last Call” were repeats. Also, Monday's "Kimmel" was an encore, and Wednesday's "Late Show" and "Late Late Show" were delayed by news coverage and are excluded from the averages.

NBC’s “Meet the Press” was the most-watched Sunday morning show on Jan. 31 with 3.89 million tuning in, followed by ABC’s “This Week” with 3.07 million, with CBS’s “Face the Nation” 2.89 million and Fox “News Sunday” with 1.14 million. Among the 25-54 demographic, NBC averaged a 1.0 rating, with ABC at 0.7, CBS at 0.6 and Fox at 0.4.

In morning shows, NBC’s “Today” was first for the week with 5.82 million total viewers, followed by ABC’s “Good Morning America” with 4.46 million and CBS’s “The Early Show” at 2.80 million. “Today” averaged a 4.3 household rating and a 16 share, with “Good Morning America” at 3.4/12 and “Early Show” at 2.1/8.

In evening network news, NBC’s “Nightly News with Brian Williams” was first with 10.08 million total viewers and a 2.5 rating among adults 25-54. ABC’s “World News with Diane Sawyer” averaged 8.51 million viewers and a 2.0 rating, followed by CBS’s “Evening News with Katie Couric” with 6.76 million and a 1.7 rating.

In daytime for the week ended Jan. 24, CBS was first for the week with 3.83 million total viewers, followed by NBC with 3.19 million and ABC with 3.01 million. Among 18-49s, NBC was first with a 1.3 average rating, while CBS and ABC each averaged a 1.2.

SUNDAY MORNING SHOW RATINGS Week ending Jan. 31, 2010 Sunday averages
Program	Network	Households
Program	Network	Rtg%	Shr	Adults 25-54	Total viewers (millions)
Meet the Press	NBC	2.7	7	1.0	3.890
This Week	ABC	2.2	6	0.7	3.072
Face the Nation	CBS	2.1	5	0.6	2.892
News Sunday	Fox	0.8	2	0.4	1.137
Source: NTI

LATE-NIGHT RATINGS* Week Ending Jan. 31, 2009 Five-day averages
Program	Network	People 2+	Adults 18-49
Program	Network	Total viewers (millions)	Rtg%
Nightline	ABC	3.9	0.9
Late Show with David Letterman	CBS	3.7	0.9
Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien	NBC	2.4	1.0
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson	CBS	1.8	0.5
Jimmy Kimmel Live*	ABC	1.7	0.5
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon	NBC	1.2	0.6
Last Call with Carson Daly*	NBC	0.7	0.4
* “Tonight,” “Late Show,” “Late Night” and “Last Call” were repeats. Also, Monday's "Kimmel" was an encore, and Wednesday's "Late Show" and "Late Late Show" were delayed by news coverage and are excluded from these averages. Source: NTI

MORNING SHOW RATINGS Week Ending Jan. 31, 2009 Five-day averages
Program	Network	Households		People 2+
Program	Network	Rtg%	Shr	Total viewers (millions)
Today	NBC	4.3	16	5.820
Good Morning America	ABC	3.4	12	4.460
Early Show	CBS	2.1	8	2.800
Source: NTI

DAYTIME RATINGS Week Ending Jan. 24, 2009 Five-day averages
	Total viewers (millions)	Women 18-49
Network	(millions)	Rtg%
CBS	3.83	1.2
NBC	3.19	1.3
ABC	3.01	1.2
Source: NTI

EVENING NETWORK NEWS RATINGS Week Ending Jan. 31, 2009 Five-day averages
Program	Network	25-54s	People 2+
Program	Network	Rtg%	Total viewers (millions)
NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams	NBC	2.5	10.080
ABC World News with Diane Sawyer	ABC	2.0	8.507
CBS Evening News with Katie Couric	CBS	1.7	6.757
Source: Nielsen Media Research

SYNDICATION Ranked on Households Week Ending Jan. 24, 2009
#	PROGRAMS	Syndicator	Households
#	PROGRAMS	Syndicator	US Rtg%	(000)
1	WHEEL OF FORTUNE	CTD	7.5	8602
2	JEOPARDY	CTD	6.4	7310
3	TWO-HALF MEN-SYN (AT)	WB	5.5	6268
4	JUDGE JUDY (AT)	CTD	4.9	5644
5	OPRAH WINFREY SHOW	CTD	4.8	5504
6	ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT(AT)	CTD	4.7	5375
7	WHEEL OF FORTUNE WKND	CTD	3.7	4224
7	LAW & ORDER:CI-WKL (AT)	NBU	3.7	4260
9	CSI NEW YORK-SYN(AT)	CTD	3.6	4160
10	FAMILY GUY-MF-SYN (AT)	2/T	3.5	4076
11	INSIDE EDITION (AT)	CTD	3.3	3739
12	DR. PHIL SHOW (AT)	CTD	3.1	3533
12	OFFICE-SYN (AT)	NBU	3.1	3529
14	DR. OZ SHOW (AT)	SPT	2.9	3326
14	GEORGE LOPEZ (AT)	WB	2.9	3295
16	EVRY LVS RAYMOND-SYN(AT)	CTD	2.8	3227
16	TWO-HALF MEN WKND B (AT)	WB	2.8	3172
16	LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY	DAD	2.8	3266
16	SEINFELD (AT)	SPT	2.8	3172
16	SEINFELD-WKND (AT)	SPT	2.8	3240
21	MILLIONAIRE (AT)	DAD	2.7	3082
21	TWO-HALF MEN WKND A (AT)	WB	2.7	3086
23	BONES-SYN (AT)	2/T	2.6	3024
23	CSI MIAMI-SYN (AT)	CTD	2.6	3041
25	ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW	WB	2.5	2860
Source: Nielsen Media Research