The Conan numbers
story: Not so good
NBC has been touting O'Brien's strength in 18-49s
By Tom Conroy
Aug 14, 2009
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Good news for Conan O’Brien: From Aug. 3 to 7, his “Tonight Show” scored a decisive victory in the 18-to-49 demographic over David Letterman’s “Late Show” and came closer to beating “The Late Show” in total viewers than it has since that show pulled ahead four weeks ago.
The bad news for O’Brien: Letterman was on vacation for the week.
The bad news for both talk-show hosts: ABC’s resurgent “Nightline” got more total viewers than either of them. (In the half hour in which all three shows go head-to-head, however, “Nightline” came in third.)
But let’s focus on the Conan vs. Dave face-off: On average for the week, 1.490 million adults 18-49 watched “Tonight,” while 919,000 watched “The Late Show.” In total viewers, Letterman’s 2.947 million just edged out O’Brien’s 2.940 million
Although some sampling of “Tonight” by Letterman fans may help O’Brien in the weeks ahead, the numbers aren’t trending in his favor.
Even NBC is pulling back on its hype. When O’Brien solidly beat Letterman both in the 18-49 and total-viewer categories in his first week as “Tonight” host, NBC issued a release claiming that O’Brien was the new “king of late night.”
Last week, at NBC’s Television Critics Association presentation, the network’s chief of late-night programming, Rick Ludwin, said that that statement was “premature.”
NBC continues to point to O’Brien’s strength in 18-to-49-year-olds, but even there the news is mixed.
In general, O’Brien hasn’t been significantly more effective than his predecessor, Jay Leno, in outdelivering Letterman in that demographic.
In the 2008-09 season overall, Jay Leno’s “Tonight” got an average rating in the demo of 1.4, compared with Letterman’s 1.1.
So far, O’Brien has been outpacing Letterman in the demo by 1.4 to 1.0, but that margin of victory has been narrowing ever since O’Brien’s unusually strong early weeks.
In the last week that both O’Brien and Letterman hosted new shows, July 27 to 31, “Tonight” got a 1.0 and the “Late Show” a 0.8. Proportionally, that’s slightly lower than Leno’s average.
Although total numbers always go up once the new TV season starts in September, NBC can’t be happy with the prospect of a new “Tonight” show that has lost its older viewers while not proving that much more effective in attracting younger ones.
And “Tonight” could suffer a one-two punch once Leno’s 10 p.m. show debuts. First, many viewers may feel they’ve had their talk-show fix and go to bed earlier.
Second, NBC has conceded that it would settle for generally lower ratings in the 10 p.m. hour because Leno’s show will be so much cheaper to produce than scripted programming. Those smaller audiences could translate into smaller lead-in audiences for the 11:35 p.m. local news and thus a smaller lead-in audience for O’Brien’s “Tonight.”
It should be noted that O’Brien overcame a weak start when he took over from Letterman as host of “Late Night,” eventually coming to dominate the 12:35 a.m. hour. Of course, over those early years, his ratings grew in tandem with those of his increasingly stronger lead-in: “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.”
***
In dayparts for the week ended Aug. 2, in late late night, CBS’s “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” averaged 1.4 million viewers, with ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” each bringing in 1.3 million and NBC’s “Last Call with Carson Daly” at 700,000. Among 18-49s, “Late Night” averaged a 0.6, while “Late Late Show” and “Kimmel” averaged a 0.4 (with a Monday encore for “Kimmel”) and “Last Call” averaged a 0.3 (in encore episodes).
ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” was the most-watched Sunday morning show on Aug. 2 with 2.8 million tuning in, followed by NBC’s “Meet the Press” with 2.77 million, CBS’s “Face the Nation” with 2.31 million and Fox “News Sunday” with 924,000. Among the 25-54 demographic, ABC averaged a 0.8 rating, followed by NBC at 0.7, CBS 0.5 and Fox at 0.4.
In morning shows, NBC’s “Today” was first for the week with 4.72 million total viewers, followed by ABC’s “Good Morning America” with 3.82 million and CBS’s “Early Show” with 2.40 million. “Today” averaged a 3.6 household rating and a 15 share, followed by “Good Morning America” at 2.9/12 and “Early Show” at 1.8/7.
In daytime, CBS was first with 3.48 million total viewers, ABC second with 2.81 million and NBC third with 2.8 million. Among women 18-49, ABC was first with a 1.2 rating, followed by NBC and CBS at 1.1.
In evening network news for the week ended Aug. 9, NBC’s “Nightly News with Brian Williams” was first with 7.57 million total viewers and a 1.7 rating among adults 25-54. ABC’s “World News with Charles Gibson” averaged 6.51 million viewers and a 1.5 rating, followed by CBS’s “Evening News with Katie Couric” with 5.1 million and a 1.2 rating.
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SUNDAY MORNING SHOW RATINGS
Week ending August 2, 2009
Sunday averages |
|
Program |
Network |
Households |
|
|
Rtg% |
Shr |
Adults 25-54 |
Total viewers (millions) |
|
This Week With George Stephanopoulos |
ABC |
2.1 |
6 |
0.8 |
2.803 |
|
Meet the Press |
NBC |
2.0 |
6 |
0.7 |
2.768 |
|
Face the Nation |
CBS |
1.6 |
5 |
0.5 |
2.307 |
|
News Sunday |
Fox |
0.7 |
2 |
0.4 |
0.924 |
|
Source: NTI |
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LATE-NIGHT RATINGS
Week Ending August 2, 2009
Five-day averages |
|
Program |
Network |
People 2+ |
Adults 18-49 |
|
Total viewers (millions) |
Rtg% |
|
Nightline |
ABC |
3.4 |
0.9 |
|
Late Show with David Letterman |
CBS |
3.4 |
0.8 |
|
Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien |
NBC |
2.6 |
1.0 |
|
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson |
CBS |
1.4 |
0.4 |
|
Jimmy Kimmel Live** |
ABC |
1.3 |
0.4 |
|
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon |
NBC |
1.3 |
0.6 |
|
Last Call with
Carson Daly* |
NBC |
0.7 |
0.3 |
|
* Encore telecasts
** Monday’s “Kimmel” was an encore
Source: NTI |
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MORNING SHOW RATINGS
Week Ending August 2, 2009
Five-day averages |
|
Program |
Network |
Households |
People 2+ |
|
Rtg% |
Shr |
Total viewers (millions) |
|
Today |
NBC |
3.6 |
15 |
4.723 |
|
Good Morning
America |
ABC |
2.9 |
12 |
3.819 |
|
Early Show |
CBS |
1.8 |
7 |
2.397 |
|
Source: NTI |
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DAYTIME RATINGS
Week Ending August 2, 2009
Five-day averages |
|
|
Total viewers (millions) |
Women 18-49 |
|
Network |
(millions) |
Rtg% |
|
CBS |
3.45 |
1.1 |
|
ABC |
2.81 |
1.2 |
|
NBC |
2.80 |
1.1 |
|
Source: NTI
|
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EVENING NETWORK NEWS RATINGS
Week Ending Aug. 9, 2009
Five-day averages |
|
Program |
Network |
25-54s |
People 2+ |
|
Rtg% |
Total viewers (millions) |
|
NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams |
NBC |
1.7 |
7.574 |
|
ABC World News with Charles Gibson |
ABC |
1.5 |
6.508 |
|
CBS Evening News with Katie Couric |
CBS |
1.2 |
5.097 |
|
Source: Nielsen Media Research |
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SYNDICATION
Ranked on Households
Week Ending August 2, 2009 |
|
# |
PROGRAMS |
Syndicator |
Households |
|
US
Rtg% |
(000) |
|
1
|
WHEEL OF FORTUNE
|
CTD
|
5.8
|
6630
|
|
2
|
JEOPARDY
|
CTD
|
4.8
|
5522
|
|
3
|
TWO-HALF MEN-SYN (AT)
|
WB
|
4.1
|
4671
|
|
4
|
ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT(AT)
|
CTD
|
3.9
|
4472
|
|
5
|
JUDGE JUDY (AT)
|
CTD
|
3.8
|
4343
|
|
6
|
FAMILY GUY-MF-SYN (AT)
|
2/T
|
3.6
|
4115
|
|
6
|
OPRAH WINFREY SHOW
|
CTD
|
3.6
|
4169
|
|
8
|
BUENA VISTA
VI
|
DAD
|
3.3
|
3742
|
|
9
|
EVRY LVS RAYMOND-SYN(AT)
|
CTD
|
3.0
|
3393
|
|
9
|
CSI NEW YORK-SYN(AT)
|
CTD
|
3.0
|
3488
|
|
11
|
SEINFELD (AT)
|
SPT
|
2.9
|
3274
|
|
11
|
LAW & ORDER:SVU-SYN (AT)
|
NBU
|
2.9
|
3347
|
|
13
|
CENTURY PREMIERE
|
2/T
|
2.8
|
3256
|
|
14
|
INSIDE EDITION (AT)
|
CTD
|
2.7
|
3114
|
|
14
|
CENTURY 19
|
2/T
|
2.7
|
3144
|
|
14
|
GEORGE LOPEZ (AT)
|
WB
|
2.7
|
3110
|
|
17
|
LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY
|
DAD
|
2.6
|
2923
|
|
18
|
DR. PHIL SHOW (AT)
|
CTD
|
2.5
|
2900
|
|
18
|
SEINFELD-WKND (AT)
|
SPT
|
2.5
|
2846
|
|
18
|
KING OF THE HILL-SYN(AT)
|
2/T
|
2.5
|
2897
|
|
18
|
WHEEL OF FORTUNE WKND
|
CTD
|
2.5
|
2904
|
|
22
|
MILLIONAIRE (AT)
|
DAD
|
2.4
|
2799
|
|
23
|
GEORGE LOPEZ WKND B (AT)
|
WB
|
2.3
|
2581
|
|
23
|
KING OF QUEENS-SYN (AT)
|
SPT
|
2.3
|
2605
|
|
25
|
GEORGE LOPEZ WKND A (AT)
|
WB
|
2.2
|
2496
|
|
25
|
FRIENDS (AT)
|
WB
|
2.2
|
2543
|
|
Source: Nielsen Media Research |
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|
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