Friday, March 5, 2010

Late Night Ratings: Audiences continue to welcome back Jay

Four nights, four victories for "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." Here are some stats on last night's Fast Nationals:

“The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” (1.5 rating in adults 18-49) led the time period over CBS’s “Late Show with David Letterman” (1.1) and ABC’s “Nightline (1.1) in fast national “live plus same day” ratings from Nielsen Media Research. The “Tonight” margin over “Late Show” in fast-national adult 18-49 rating is 36 percent.

Thursday’s “Tonight” matched its Wednesday rating in adults 18-49 (1.5) and finished within a tenth of a point of its Monday and Tuesday result (1.6 each night in fast nationals).

In total viewers in the fast nationals, “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” (5.1 million) ranked #1 among the major networks in the time period over “Late Show” (3.9 million) and “Nightline” (3.6 million). The “Tonight” margin over “Late Show” in total viewers in these fast-national results is 29 percent.

I promise now that I'll lay off the ratings until late next week, when all of the networks will weigh in with their final numbers and bits of spin.

1 comments :

  1. Keonyn said...

    Not surprising at all. I mean, we're a country full of people who continue to chase after and hand money over to the likes of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton and all the other celebrities who've made total fools of themselves and/or clearly presented a dark or hypocritical side. Plus we're content to let the same sick politicians and corrupt corporations run us over whenever it suits them. So hey, why not let the likes of Leno off the hook even though it's clear his hands aren't as clean as he would like to have Oprah believe.

    Besides, NBC pulled off some brilliant PR work in all of this. They knew their image was tarnished, but it's their host that matters. They gag Conan and pretty much have Leno go out to tell the world how big of a douchebag all those evil NBC people are. Their host gets to save face, and even though people might hate the big wigs at NBC, it's not them they are turning on the TV to watch.

    The network can't manage their programming worth a damn, but they sure can play the PR game like pros. I, for one, won't be watching that show again until Leno is gone. I found some bits funny before and would turn it on now and again, but I'm done with them for now. Heck, the only really funny bits I found in his show are the ones where Jay is hardly even a factor.

    Honestly, this whole affair makes me sick. Now the worst host in late night is back under the biggest spotlight, but my second favorite host is no longer even an option for me. At least I still have Ferguson though, cause once he's gone there's little reason to even bother with late night talk shows anymore.