Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Ratings News: Leno's low, good start for Lopez and Sykes

Bad ratings news for Jay Leno: last night's show had a disastrous 1.2 rating, his lowest to date, in the coveted™ 18-49 demographic. NBC had insisted that Leno only needed a 1.5 rating to be profitable, since the show is so cheap to produce. However, the Monday night football games on ESPN are taking a bite out of Leno's male audience, and ABC's "Castle" and CBS's "CSI: Miami" are also attracting many viewers.

According to the New York Times, Leno's woes are affecting the rest of NBC's late night franchises: "Conan O’Brien on 'The Tonight Show' fell to just a 1.7 rating in the overnight household ratings and the preliminary 18-49 ratings put him well below his main competitor, David Letterman on CBS... Jimmy Fallon hit his lowest number to date Monday night in those household ratings, a 0.9, well behind his main competitor, Craig Ferguson on CBS, who scored a 1.7."

Things are looking cheerier for new entrants Wanda Sykes and George Lopez. The debut of TBS's "Lopez Tonight" was a big hit with young demos: "Lopez managed to surpass the season averages for shows starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Jon Stewart and Craig Ferguson­ and in some cases even Conan O’Brien and David Letterman." 1.02 million 18-49 viewers tuned in, "which beat the regular performances of those first four hosts. He also had 608,000 viewers between the ages of 18 and 34."

Of course, Leno started strong, too. The question is whether the people who were curious enough to tune in last night will stick around.

Sykes' first outing on FOX averaged a 2.2 rating in the overnights. Meanwhile, NBC's "Saturday Night Live," featuring guest host Taylor Swift, scored a 5, one of its best of the year so far.

3 comments :

  1. Anonymous said...

    Speaking of Leno...didja hear they put Headlines on DIRECTLY after the monlogue last night instead of at the very end???

    Just bring back the desk and rename it "The Tonight Show" already.

    - Octobrain

  2. Talk Show News said...

    I had been wondering about that... I turned the show on toward the end and was curious why he was showing Internet videos instead of Headlines.

  3. Anonymous said...

    A strong start shouldnt mean much in the world of TV. As Sue said, its whether the show will hold those viewers in the future that puts them in a good position ratings-wise.

    I guess Leno was having trouble keeping the viewers tuned till Headlines before and he had to give it to them at the start now huh? Not a good sign for the show.

    Santiago