Fringe Ratings Report: ABC Late-Night Programming Week of December 10, 2012

ABC is the Week's No. 1 Network in Late-Night for the 10th Time This Season

ABC's "Nightline" Takes the Top Spot in Late-Night in Viewers and Adults 25-54

ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Grows its Audience Year to Year 3 Weeks in a Row

ABC Late-Night (Monday - Friday)

During the week of December 10, 2012, ABC was up over the prior week by 14% in Total Viewers (2.586 million vs. 2.274 million) and by 10% in Adults 18-49 (797,000 vs. 725,000), scoring its best performance in late-night among young adults in 5 weeks - since the week of 11/5/12. In fact, ABC was the only broadcaster to post gains week to week in both Nielsen measures (CBS was down -3%/up +1%, respectively; NBC was down -8%/-10%, respectively).

Building its overall audience over the year-ago week for the 3rd consecutive week, ABC grew from the same week last year (2.304 million and 791,000 on w/o 12/12/11) in both Total Viewers (+12%) and Adults 18-49 (+1%) and stood as the only broadcast network to see year-to-year gains in either Nielsen measure (CBS was down -8%/-17%, respectively; NBC was down -16%/-14%, respectively).

· For the 10th week this season, ABC (2.586 million) qualified as the most-watched network in late-night with double-digit leads over CBS (+15% - 2.240 million) and NBC (+28% - 2.018 million).

· ABC also stood as the No. 1 network in late-night with Adults 18-49 (797,000) for the 10th time this season, holding its biggest advantages in 6 weeks over both CBS (+12% - 713,000) and NBC (+22% - 653,000).

"Nightline" (Monday - Friday)

ABC's "Nightline" finished as late-night's No. 1 program for the 3rd week running in all key target demos for the week of December 10, 2012: Total Viewers (4.106 million), Adults 25-54 (1.599 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.181 million), according to Nielsen Media Research. "Nightline" has taken the top spot among the late-night programs in broadcast in 10 of 11 weeks this season in viewers and in the key adult news demo. "Nightline" saw its best performance of the season in Adults 25-54.

For the 4th week in a row, "Nightline" was up on its week-ago performance in Adults 25-54 (+10%) and Adults 18-49 (+4%) - 1.452 million and 1.131 million, respectively, on w/o 12/3/12. Total Viewers is up +7%.

"Nightline" delivered across-the-board year-to-year growth in all key target demos: Total Viewers (+6%), Adults 25-54 (+8%) and Adults 18-49 (+1%) - 3.888 million, 1.482 million and 1.172 million, respectively, on w/o 12/12/11.

"Nightline" staked claim to the week's No. 1 late-night telecast with its Friday airing (12/14/12) in Total Viewers (4.609 million), Adults 25-54 (1.908 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.410 million).

Season to date, "Nightline" ranks No. 1 among the late-night broadcast programs in Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49, ahead of both NBC's "The Tonight Show" and CBS' "The Late Show." This marks the 3rd straight year that the ABC program is taking the top spot in all 3 measures.

"Jimmy Kimmel Live" (Monday - Friday)

During the week of December 10, 2012, ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" grew its overall audience over the same week last year for the 3rd week in a row (+7% - 1.851 million vs. 1.729 million), standing as the only late-night broadcast talk show to see growth in Total Viewers.

· During the week, ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" stood as the No. 3 talk show in late-night in Total Viewers (1.851 million), behind only NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (3.294 million) and CBS' "The Late Show with David Letterman" (3.075 million).

· Despite airing repeat telecasts on Thursday and Friday, "JKL" (M-F 12:00 a.m.) beat a full week of original telecasts of NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (M-F 12:35 a.m.) by 20% in Total Viewers (1.851 million vs. 1.547 million) and by 8% in Adults 18-49 (612,000 vs. 565,000).

· ABC's "JKL" held double-digit advantages over CBS' "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (M-F 12:35 a.m.) in Total Viewers (+27% - 1.851 million vs. 1.463 million) and Adults 18-49 (+20% - 612,000 vs. 510,000), beating the CBS late-night program in both Nielsen measures on each of the 12 weeks of the season. "JKL's" repeat telecasts on Thursday and Friday dominated original telecasts of "Ferguson" on both days: Thursday (+26%/+61%) and Friday (+35%/+17%). On average for the 2012-13 season (12 weeks), ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" is up over the same point last season by 6% in Total Viewers (1.956 million vs. 1.838 million), marking its biggest-ever audience through this point in a season. In addition, "JKL" is the only late-night broadcast talk show to grow its overall audience year over year.

· ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" posts its most competitive performance ever with NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and CBS' "The Late Show with David Letterman" this season among Adults 18-49, pacing 347,000 young adult viewers behind the NBC program (676,000 vs. 1.023 million) and just 253,000 young adult viewers from the CBS program (676,000 vs. 929,000). In addition, "JKL" cut its year-to-year gap among Adults 18-49 with CBS' "The Late Show" by nearly half (-42% - 253,000 vs. 433,000).

· ABC's "JKL" (M-F 12:00 a.m.) beats NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (M-F 12:35 a.m.) by 17% in Total Viewers (1.956 million vs. 1.676 million) and by 2% in Adults 18-49 (676,000 vs. 666,000) this season, drawing a larger overall audience than the NBC late-night program in all but one of the 12 weeks this season.

· ABC's "JKL" dominates CBS' "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (M-F 12:35 a.m.) by solid double-digit margins in both Total Viewers (+27% - 1.956 million vs. 1.546 million) and Adults 18-49 (+18% - 676,000 vs. 573,000), topping the CBS program on each week this season on both Nielsen measures.

Late-Night Rank (Week of Dec 10): TOTAL VIEWERS A18-49(000)

ABC 2,586,000 797,000

CBS 2,240,000 713,000

NBC 2,018,000 653,000

Source: The Nielsen Company, Live + Same Day National Program Ratings for week of 12/10/12, 12/3/12 & 12/12/11 or as dated. Most Current - 2012-2013 Season (9/24 - 12/16/12) and 2011-2012 Season (9/19 - 12/18/11), based on regular telecasts and breakout telecasts for w/o 10/29/12; all other breakout telecasts and specials excluded. Comparisons based on 000s.

ABC Late-Night = "Nightline" and "JKL"; CBS Late-Night = "Letterman" and "Ferguson"; NBC Late-Night = "Tonight Show," "Fallon" and "Carson Daly."