or


[12/31/12 - 10:31 AM]
"Tonight Show" and "Late Night" Hit Season Highs as They Win the Week of Dec. 17-21
NBC spins the late-night numbers for the week of December 17-21.

[via press release from NBC]

"TONIGHT SHOW" AND "LATE NIGHT" HIT SEASON HIGHS AS THEY WIN THE WEEK OF DEC. 17-21

IN TOTAL VIEWERS, JAY LENO SCORES A 10-MONTH HIGH AND JIMMY FALLON DELIVERS HIS BIGGEST WEEKLY AUDIENCE IN NEARLY THREE YEARS

EXCLUDING WEEKS OF MAJOR SPORTS OVERRUNS, JAY GENERATES HIS BIGGEST 18-49 AUDIENCE IN 10 MONTHS AND JIMMY HITS AN 18-MONTH HIGH

SEASON TO DATE, JAY HAS INCREASED HIS YEAR-AGO MARGINS OVER 'LATE SHOW' IN VIEWERS 18-34, 18-49 AND 25-54 AND JIMMY EXTENDS HIS LEAD OVER 'LATE LATE SHOW' IN 18-49

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. - December 31, 2012 - NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" have scored season highs in viewers 18-49 and total viewers during the week of December 17-21, with both show achieving 15-week highs in adult 18-49 viewers.

In total viewers, Jay generated his biggest overall audience in 10 months and Jimmy scored his top total-viewer result in nearly three years.

Ratings were boosted last week by the Tuesday, Dec. 18 primetime finale of "The Voice" and by an appearance on the Wednesday telecast of "Tonight" by "Voice" winner Cassadee Pope. Thursday's "Late Night" featured Billy Crystal, Tyson Chandler and musical guest Cee Lo Green, who sat in with The Roots, as well as an appearance by Jerry Seinfeld.

Jay's 1.264 million adults 18-49 viewers for the week is "Tonight's" highest since September 3-7 (1.340 million), the week of a major NFL overrun, and Jimmy's 776,000 adults 18-49 is also "Late Night's" highest since that same week (855,000). Excluding weeks of major sport overruns, it's the biggest 18-49 audience for "Tonight" in 10 months (since the week of February 6-10, 1.307 million) and biggest for "Late Night" in 18 months (June 20-24, 2011, 899,000).

In total viewers, Jay's 4.057 million persons is his highest average since the week of February 6-10 (4.075 million), the post-Super Bowl week, which featured the premiere of the prior "Voice" cycle, and Jimmy's 2.029 million is his biggest overall audience since the week of January 18-22, 2010 (2.162 million).

For the week, "Tonight" and "Late Night" beat the time-period competition on ABC and CBS in all key ratings categories: adults, men and women 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54, plus total viewers.

Season to date for the 2012-13 season, "Tonight" has stretched its leads versus one year ago over CBS's "Late Show" in viewers 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54. In viewers 18-49, "Tonight" has established a margin over "Late Show" of 13 percent (1.047 million vs. 925,000), eliminating last year's "Late Show" advantage of 1 percent. Jay has also generated a 25-54 advantage this season of 10 percent (1.331 million vs. 1.215 million) after trailing by 0.2 percent at this point last year, and has stretched his 18-34 lead to 18 percent (348,000 vs. 296,000), up from last year's 15 percent.

Jimmy Fallon has established an 18 percent lead over "Late Late Show" this season in viewers 18-49 (671,000 vs. 570,000), up from 13 percent at this point last season.

"Tonight" delivered a bigger 18-49 audience than "Late Show" for the eighth time in the last nine weeks, while Jimmy Fallon has attracted a bigger 18-49 audience than "Late Late Show" for 11 weeks in a row.

WEEKLY AVERAGES

(According to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of December 17-21. 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," 1.0 rating, 4 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," 0.6/3
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," 4.1 million viewers
CBS "Late Show," 3.1 million viewers
11:35 p.m.-12 midnight ET
ABC "Nightline," 4.0 million viewers
12 midnight-1 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 1.8 million viewers*
12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 2.0 million viewers
CBS "Late Late Show," 1.4 million viewers
1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.9 million viewers*

*Friday's "Last Call" and Wednesday through Friday's "Kimmels" were encores.

SEASON TO DATE

ADULTS 18-49
11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Tonight," 0.8 rating, 3 share
CBS "Late Show," 0.7/3
11:35 p.m.-12 midnight ET
ABC "Nightline," 0.9/3
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," 0.5/3
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," 3.5 million viewers
CBS "Late Show," 3.1 million viewers
11:35 p.m.-12 midnight ET
ABC "Nightline," 3.9 million viewers
12 midnight-1 a.m. ET
ABC "Kimmel," 1.9 million viewers
12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC "Late Night," 1.7 million viewers
CBS "Late Late Show," 1.5 million viewers
1:35-2:05 a.m. ET
NBC "Last Call," 0.9 million viewers

SELECTED CABLE RESULTS, WEEK OF DECEMBER 17-21

NATIONAL ADULT 18-49 RATING
Comedy Central, 11-11:30 p.m. ET, "The Daily Show," 0.4 with encore telecasts
Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m.-midnight ET, "The Colbert Report," 0.3 with encore telecasts
TBS, 11 p.m.-midnight, "Conan," 0.5
Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 1.0
Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 0.6

Each adult 18-49 rating point equals 1.27 million viewers

TOTAL VIEWERS
Comedy Central, 11-11:30 p.m. "The Daily Show," 0.7 million with encore telecasts
Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m.-midnight ET, "The Colbert Report," 0.6 million with encore telecast
TBS, 11 p.m.-midnight, "Conan," 1.0 million
Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET, 2.2 million
Adult Swim, 12:30-1:30 a.m. ET, 1.5 million





  [december 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
[10/14/26 - 04:10 PM]
Nebraska Volleyball Serves Up a Big Saturday on FOX
Nebraska's 3-0 win averaged 945,000 viewers on FOX.

[10/14/26 - 03:50 PM]
Indiana's Win Over Nebraska Scores 6,734,000 Viewers on FOX
"Big Noon Saturday" peaked at 9,623,000 viewers.

[10/14/26 - 03:04 PM]
"College GameDay" Continues Record Pace as ESPN College Football Delivers Historic Week 6 Audiences
ABC scored its most-watched college football tripleheader of the season with 8.5 million viewers, led by Georgia-Alabama (12.2 million) and Oklahoma-Texas (9.8 million) - both record-setting rivalry audiences.

[10/14/26 - 02:50 PM]
26,697,000 Viewers for "America's Game of the Week" Highlight FOX NFL's Week 5
Said coverage was the most watched telecast of the week on any network.

[10/14/26 - 02:44 PM]
FOX Scores Most-Watched LCS Game 1 on Any Network Since 2005
10,719,000 viewers tuned in Sunday night for NLCS Game 1 on FOX and FOX Deportes.

[10/14/26 - 11:31 AM]
Top 10 Most-Watched Prime Original Films & Series for the Week of October 5
"Carrie," "Neagley," "Reacher," "Off Campus," and "Sterling Point" led all original series worldwide.

[10/14/26 - 07:29 AM]
ESPN Delivers Sixth Straight Year of Television Viewership Growth, Up 10% in Fiscal Year 2026
ESPN and ESPN on ABC each posted 11% year-over-year growth in total viewership, while ESPN2 increased 3%.

[10/12/26 - 03:33 PM]
ESPN's "Saban" Delivered Its Most-Watched Original Debut Since 2022
The premiere averaged 529,000 viewers on ESPN on Thursday, October 8, making it the most-watched original debut on ESPN since 2022 and third most-watched ESPN original debut of all time.

[10/08/26 - 03:32 PM]
CBS All-"NCIS" Tuesday Premieres +39% Higher Than Last Year
"NCIS," the series premiere of "NCIS: New York," and "NCIS: Origins" were the night's top three most-watched scripted broadcast programs.

[10/08/26 - 02:26 PM]
ABC News Wins in Late Night and Friday Night
"20/20: Home Alone" ranked as the Friday's No. 1 newsmagazine in Total Viewers, Adults 25-54, and Adults 18-49 on Friday, October 2.

[10/08/26 - 11:25 AM]
"Jimmy Kimmel Live" Leads Late Night with Live Shows from Brooklyn Academy of Music
The series topped late-night for the second week in a row this season, scoring 2.66 million Total Viewers and a 0.27 rating among Adults 18-49.

[10/07/26 - 02:01 PM]
UPtv Is the Fastest Growing Cable Network in 2026
Fueling UPtv's impressive growth are hit series "Hudson & Rex," UP Faith & Family original series "Blue Skies," which just wrapped its impressive cable debut, and acquired fan-favorite series "The Rookie."

[10/07/26 - 11:01 AM]
Top 10 Most-Watched Prime Original Films & Series for the Week of September 28
"Neagley," "Reacher," "Off Campus," "Sterling Point," and "El Juicio" led all original series worldwide.

[10/07/26 - 10:08 AM]
ESPN Studio Shows Continue Record Run with Strong September Audiences
Across ESPN's studio programming, average September viewership increased 7% year over year, continuing the strong audience trends seen throughout 2026.

[10/06/26 - 03:03 PM]
"College GameDay Built by The Home Depot" Scores Season-High Viewership from Iowa City
Plus: ABC won the Saturday noon and primetime windows in Week 5.