or


[10/04/12 - 10:22 AM]
"Tonight Show" and "Late Night" Deliver #1 Finishes and Lengthen Year-Ago Leads to Open the 2012-13 Season
NBC spins the late-night numbers for the week of September 24-28.

[via press release from NBC]

"TONIGHT SHOW" AND "LATE NIGHT" DELIVER #1 FINISHES AND LENGTHEN YEAR-AGO LEADS TO OPEN THE 2012-13 SEASON

JAY LENO AND JIMMY FALLON GENERATE BIGGER AUDIENCES THAN THE ABC AND CBS SLOT COMPETITION IN 18-49 AND TOTAL VIEWERS

JAY LENO LENGTHENS HIS LEADS OVER 'LATE SHOW' VS. PREMIERE WEEK LAST YEAR IN VIEWERS 18-49, 18-34 AND 25-54; TOPS 'LATE SHOW' FOR THE WEEK IN EVERY KEY MEASURE

JIMMY FALLON INCREASES HIS YEAR-AGO LEAD IN VIEWERS 18-49 AND OUT-DELIVERS 'LATE LATE SHOW' IN EVERY KEY CATEGORY: ADULTS, MEN AND WOMEN 18-34, 18-49 AND 25-54, PLUS TOTAL VIEWERS

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. - October 4, 2012 - NBC's late-night stars have opened the 2012-13 television season with #1 finishes for the week of September 24-28 versus the ABC and CBS time-period competition, as "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" delivered bigger audiences in adults 18-49 and total viewers than CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman" and ABC's combination in that hour of "Nightline" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," while "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" topped CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" and "Kimmel" in their head-to-head half-hour. Note that "Tonight" and "Late Show" both rounded to a 0.7 rating in adults 18-49 for the week, while Jay delivered a bigger audience in that category. Monday's "Late Night" and Friday's "Kimmel" were encores.

Versus last year's premiere week, Jay increased his lead over "Late Show" in viewers 18-49, 18-34 and 25-54. For the week, Jay delivered bigger audiences than "Late Late Show" in all key categories: adults, men and women 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54, plus total viewers.

At 12:35 a.m. ET, Jimmy Fallon also stretched his year-ago margin over "Late Late Show" in 18-49 viewers and generated bigger audiences than "Late Late Show" in every key category.

For the first week of the new season, "Tonight" increased its viewers 18-49 margin over "Late Show" to 8 percent (935,000 vs. 865,000), up from the year-ago premiere-week advantage of 2 percent, while stretching its 25-54 advantage to 7 percent (1.213 million vs. 1.130 million) from last year's 5 percent and its 18-34 lead to 27 percent (335,000 vs. 263,000) from last year's 19 percent. Jimmy Fallon delivered a viewers 18-49 lead over "Late Late Show" of 22 percent (591,000 vs. 485,000), up from last year's advantage of 14 percent.

"Tonight" delivered a bigger 18-49 audience than "Late Show" for the 35th time in their last 39 head-to-head weeks (excludes weeks of Olympic preemptions) and 17th week in a row, while Jimmy Fallon has attracted a bigger 18-49 audience than "Late Late Show" for each of their last 42 head-to-head weeks.

WEEKLY AVERAGES

(According to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of September 24-28. Ratings reflect "live plus same day" data from Nielsen Media Research unless otherwise noted. Season-to-date figures are averages of "live plus seven day" data except for the two most recent weeks, which are "live plus same day.")

ADULTS 18-49
11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 0.7 rating, 3 share
CBS "Late Show," 0.7/3
11:35 p.m.-12 midnight ET
ABC "Nightline," 0.8/3
12 midnight-1 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 0.5/2*
12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 0.5/3*
CBS "Late Late Show," 0.4/2
1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.3/2*

TOTAL VIEWERS
11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 3.3 million viewers
CBS "Late Show," 3.0 million viewers
11:35 p.m.-12 midnight ET
ABC "Nightline," 3.6 million viewers
12 midnight-1 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 1.8 million viewers*
12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 1.5 million viewers*
CBS "Late Late Show," 1.4 million viewers
1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.9 million viewers*

* Monday's "Late Night" and "Last Call" and Friday's "Kimmel" were encores

SELECTED CABLE RESULTS, WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 24-28

NATIONAL ADULT 18-49 RATING

Comedy Central, 11-11:30 p.m. ET, "The Daily Show," 0.7** Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m.-midnight ET, "The Colbert Report," 0.5**

TBS, 11 p.m.-midnight, "Conan," 0.5

Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 0.8 Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 0.5

Each adult 18-49 rating point equals 1.27 million viewers

TOTAL VIEWERS

Comedy Central, 11-11:30 p.m. "The Daily Show," 1.6 million** Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m.-midnight ET, "The Colbert Report," 1.1 million**

TBS, 11 p.m.-midnight, "Conan," 0.9 million

Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 1.8 million Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 1.2 million

** Monday's "Daily Show" and "Colbert Report" were encores.





  [october 2012]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
 


· SHOWATCH
(series past and present)
· DEVWATCH
(series in development)
· MOVIEWATCH
(tv movies and mini-series)





most recent ratings | view all posts
[10/24/25 - 02:02 PM]
"20/20" Is Friday's Most-Watched Newsmagazine Across the Board
In addition, "20/20" posted its best Adults 25-54 in more than four months.

[10/24/25 - 02:01 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 Across the Board, Leading NBC in All Key Demos for the 4th Straight Week
"Nightline" grew year to year across the board: Total Viewers, Adults 25-54, and Adults 18-49.

[10/24/25 - 01:05 PM]
"Dancing with the Stars" Makes Television History - Rising for Fifth Straight Week
The October 21 episode scored 6.63 million Total Viewers and a 1.38 rating among Adults 18-49, hitting new season highs in both demographics.

[10/23/25 - 02:33 PM]
Largest Audience for "NBA Tip-Off" Doubleheader Since 2010 as NBA Returned to NBC and Debuted on Peacock
Tuesday night's audience across NBC and Peacock peaked at 7.1 million viewers from 10:45-11 p.m. ET as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder to a one-point win over the Houston Rockets in double overtime.

[10/23/25 - 11:28 AM]
"High Potential" Rises to Season High as Show Nears Fall Finale
ABC's popular drama rose to a multiplatform season high in Total Viewers (12.50 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.31 rating) after seven days of viewing on ABC, Hulu, Hulu on Disney+ and digital platforms.

[10/22/25 - 03:06 PM]
FOX Sports Delivers Most-Watched ALCS Game Since 2017
9,028,000 viewers tuned in across FOX, FS1, FOX Deportes & FOX Sports streaming services for the Toronto Blue Jays' ALCS Game 7 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

[10/22/25 - 08:07 AM]
ESPN College Football on ABC Delivers Top Three Games Across All Networks for Saturday, Oct. 18 - Off to Best Start Since '09
Coverage of Ole Miss at Georgia averaged 9.8 million viewers.

[10/22/25 - 08:03 AM]
FOX NFL's America's Game of the Week Delivers 25,630,000 Average Viewers for Commanders-Cowboys
Season-to-date, the NFL on FOX is off to its best start to the season since 2014, averaging 19,646,000 viewers and up +4% over last year's season-to-date average.

[10/22/25 - 07:44 AM]
"9-1-1: Nashville" Debuts with Over 12 Million Total Audience to Date
The star-studded, high-octane first-responder drama delivered 7.80 million Total Viewers and 1.51 rating among Adults 18-49, excluding encores.

[10/22/25 - 06:21 AM]
ABC's Telecast of Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix Draws Event's Largest TV Audience on Record
Viewership peaked at 1.6 million between 4:15-4:30 p.m. as Max Verstappen drove to victory, further tightening up the battle for the F1 driver's championship with only five races left in the season.

[10/21/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of October 13: "The Woman in Cabin 10" Sails Smoothly to No. 1 in This Week's Top 10
In the final stretch to Halloween, those lured in by the story of the OG horror villain put "Monster: The Ed Gein Story" at No. 1 on the English TV list with 9.5 million views.

[10/17/25 - 01:16 PM]
"Live with Kelly and Mark" Hits Season Highs with Best Audience Performance Since July
"Live" has now ranked as the No. 1 talk show in syndication for 139 consecutive weeks across all key measures.

[10/17/25 - 10:38 AM]
"Dancing with the Stars" Continues Historic Hot Streak - Rising for Fourth Straight Week Since Premiere with 6 Million Total Viewers
Plus: "High Potential" dominated the 10 p.m. hour with 4.15 million Total Viewers and a 0.33 rating among Adults 18-49.

[10/16/25 - 06:01 AM]
ESPN's Monumental 2025 WNBA Season Sets New Viewership Records
Across all networks, the 2025 WNBA Postseason was the most-viewed since 1999.

[10/15/25 - 04:02 PM]
"20/20" Is Friday's No. 1 Program on Broadcast TV
"20/20" increased its lead week to week over "Dateline" in Total Viewers to post its largest of the season.