'Leno' bumps up
on its third night
Averages a 3.4 in 18-49s and 13.1M total viewers
By Toni Fitzgerald
Sep 17, 2009
“The Jay Leno Show” continues to put up strong numbers, thanks in part to strong lead-in support.
Last night’s third episode grew over night two, airing after the season finale of “America’s Got Talent,” which set a series record among total viewers, boosted in part by a performance by “Britain’s Got Talent” breakout Susan Boyle.
“Leno” averaged a 3.4 adults 18-49 rating at 10 p.m., according to Nielsen overnights, up slightly over Tuesday’s 3.3, though still down from premiere night’s 5.3.
“Leno” had a very strong outing among total viewers, averaging 13.1 million and holding an impressive 86 percent of “Talent’s” lead-in audience of 15.5 million. That was up 2.4 million from Tuesday.
“Leno” averaged 18.4 million in his debut Monday, which featured an interview with reviled “Video Music Awards” stage crasher Kanye West.
NBC is likely celebrating the ratings uptick. Most expected “Leno’s” ratings to erode steadily through the week, after the novelty of the five-nights-per-week experiment wore off.
Still, the real test will come next week, when ABC and CBS premiere their competing 10 p.m. shows.
The two-hour “Talent” was the night’s most-watched show among both total viewers and 18-49s, where it averaged a 3.5, peaking with a 4.3 at 9:30 p.m., when the winner was crowned.
That may have hurt Fox’s competing new comedy “Glee,” which averaged a respectable 3.1 rating but was off 11 percent from last week’s 3.5. The show did improve on lead-in “So You Think You Can Dance” for a second straight week.
Meanwhile, there was nothing pretty about the night’s only series premiere, airing at 9 p.m. The CW’s “The Beautiful Life: TBL” lost roughly half of the audience of hit lead-in “America’s Next Top Model” across nearly every demographic, including 18-49s, 18-34s and the network’s target women 18-34.
“TBL” averaged a 1.1 rating in the latter, becoming the network’s lowest-rated debut of the young season.
For the night, NBC led among 18-49s with a 3.5 average overnight rating and a 10 share. Fox was second at 2.7/8, ABC and Univision tied for third at 1.7/5, CBS was fifth at 1.6/5 and CW sixth at 1.0/3.
As a reminder, all ratings are based on live-plus-same-day DVR playback. Seven-day DVR data won’t be available for several weeks. Thirty-two percent of Nielsen households have DVRs.
NBC led all three hours of the night, beginning with a 2.8 at 8 p.m. for its first hour of “Talent.” Fox was second with a 2.4 for “Dance,” ABC third with a 2.1 for “Wipeout,” Univision fourth with a 1.5 for “El Nombre del Amor,” CBS fifth with a 1.2 for repeats of “The New Adventures of Old Christine” and “Gary Unmarried” and CW sixth with a 1.4 for “Model.”
At 9 p.m. NBC was first with a 4.1 for more “Talent,” followed by Fox with a 3.1 for “Glee.” Univision was third with a 2.0 for “Mañana Es para Siempre,” CBS fourth with a 1.8 for a “Criminal Minds” rerun, ABC fifth with a 1.4 for “Crash Course” and CW sixth with a 0.7 for “The Beautiful Life: TBL.”
At 10 p.m. NBC was first again with a 3.4 for “Leno,” while CBS moved to second with a 1.9 for a repeat of “CSI: NY.” Univision was third with a 1.5 for “Don Francisco Presenta” and ABC fourth with a 1.4 for “Primetime.”
NBC also finished first for the night among households with a 9.1 average overnight rating and a 15 share. CBS was second at 4.2/7, Fox third at 3.9/6, ABC fourth at 2.8/5, Univision fifth at 2.1/3 and CW sixth at 1.5/3.
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