New pecking order in late night: Jay, then Conan

Here are your final late night numbers for the 2005-06 season, presented with a minimum of NBC spin.  After all, when your ratings are as dominant as NBC's are, why embellish?

My headline is provocative, since the only demographic "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" leads "Late Show with David Letterman" is in 18-34-year-olds. And recall that when Letterman was at NBC, he had the reputation for drawing the smaller, yet more advertiser-friendly, audience in late night than Johnny Carson.  Conan's lead-in still does very well with younger viewers, but Letterman is not so fortunate.

With Conan beginning to do five tapings a week, and with originals typically doing better in the Nielsens than repeats, look for O'Brien to widen his lead with his current and — more importantly — future audience of younger viewers, and look for him to creep closer to Letterman in 18-49 (with some help from the revived "Nightline").

BURBANK, Calif. - September 21, 2006 - NBC has wrapped up the 2005-06 broadcast year as the #1 network in late night, with "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" completing its 11th season in a row ranking #1 among adults 18-49 at 11:35 p.m. ET and undefeated "Late Night with Conan O’Brien" wrapping up its 12th straight season at #1 in its time period.

For the broadcast year to date, Jay has stretched his leads over Letterman to 38 percent in adults 18-49 and total viewers, up from 30 percent last year in 18-49 and 31 percent in total viewers. Conan also rules the ratings race at 12:35 a.m., delivering winning margins of 50 percent in 18-49 viewers, 27 percent in total viewers and 108 percent in adults 18-34.

With their dominant victories in the third quarter, Jay has now won 44 consecutive quarters in 18-49 (including ties) and Conan has extended his unbeaten streak to 47 consecutive quarters.

For the third quarter, Jay's margin of victory over CBS’ "Late Show with David Letterman" is 42 percent in 18-49 and 43 percent in total viewers, up from 32 percent for last year's third quarter in 18-49 and 40 percent in total viewers. Conan won the quarter by a 50 percent margin in 18-49, 30 percent in total viewers and 88 percent in adults 18-34 over CBS’ "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson."

Jay's 42 percent margin over Letterman in 18-49 viewers is his second-biggest third-quarter lead in the last seven years, behind only a 51 percent advantage in the third quarter of 2003.

 

For the quarter, "Tonight" averaged 2.141 million adult 18-49 viewers versus 1.510 million for "Late Show," and "Late Night" averaged 1.170 million 18-49 viewers versus 782,000 for "Late Late Show."

Conan outscored CBS' Letterman in the valuable adult 18-34 category for the quarter (553,000 viewers vs. 528,000) and the broadcast year (656,000 to 622,000), despite Conan's later start time.

For the broadcast year, "Last Call with Carson Daly" tied ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and finished within a tenth of a point of CBS' Ferguson in adults 18-49. In adults 18-34, "Last Call" out-rated Kimmel and Ferguson and pulled within a tenth of a point of "Nightline," though "Last Call" airs two hours later than "Nightline," 90 minutes later than Kimmel and an hour later than Ferguson in much of the country.

"Tonight" has won 211 of the last 215 weeks, 42 sweep months in a row, and 11 television seasons in a row. Jay finished #1 on 241 of 250 nights for the broadcast year in 18-49 (including five ties) and on 243 of 250 nights in total viewers versus regular competition.

Conan has won over "Late Late" competition for 570 weeks in a row in a streak that dates back to the week of July 24-28, 1995. Conan has won 47 sweep months in a row and 12 straight television seasons. Conan has finished #1 on 245 of 250 nights this broadcast year in 18-49 (including 10 ties) and 230 of 250 in total viewers versus regular competition.

 

FINAL 2005-06 BROADCAST YEAR AVERAGES

ADULTS 18-49

NBC "Tonight," 1.9/8

CBS "Late Show," 1.4/6

ABC "Nightline," 1.1/5

ABC "Kimmel," 0.6/3

NBC "Late Night," 1.0/6

CBS "Late Late Show," 0.7/4

NBC "Last Call," 0.6/5

Each rating point equals 1.30 million viewers

TOTAL VIEWERS

NBC "Tonight," 5.7 million viewers

CBS "Late Show," 4.1 million viewers

ABC "Nightline," 3.4 million viewers

ABC "Kimmel," 1.6 million viewers

NBC "Late Night," 2.4 million viewers

CBS "Late Late Show," 1.9 million viewers

NBC "Last Call," 1.5 million viewers

Each rating point equals 1.31 million viewers

###