Now that the TV-cost-reduction experiment otherwise known as The Jay Leno Show is in its third week, the numbers are starting to accumulate. After a big debut, his average nightly take has been bouncing around 6 million or so—above, but not a lot above, the 5 million he averaged on Tonight—depending on the strength of his NBC lead-in …
TV Ratings
Nearly 18 Million for Jay. Does It Matter?
Last night, the first broadcast of The Jay Leno Show drew a whopping 17.7 million viewers, many of them with their original teeth. As the guy who wrote the story with the “Future of TV” cover line, I should probably just leave it at that and call it a day. But let’s take a look at what does and doesn’t matter about that number, in ways …
Ratings Roundup: Policy, Harmony, Anarchy
A few bits of ratings news as we start to get warmed up for premiere season:
* President Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress drew 32.1 million viewers, up from the 24.5 million his last primetime health care press conference drew (though not not up to the massive audiences he was getting just after his inauguration).
…And Now Conan Beats Dave (Among Youngsters) Without Showing Up
The late-night ratings for the week before last showed that a week of David Letterman reruns had beaten Conan O’Brien originals in total viewers, although the Conan originals still won in various categories of younger viewers. Last week, Conan was in reruns and Dave was in originals and… pretty much exactly the same thing happened: …
Dave & Conan: Who's #1? Depends Who Counts
As Bill Carter reports at the New York Times, one side effect of Michael Jackson’s death has been a big jump in Nightline’s ratings, which seemed to come largely from Conan O’Brien. The night of Jackson’s memorial, The Tonight Show got about two million fewer viewers than Nightline, and a million less than Late Show With David …
31 Million (and More) for MJ Memorial
According to Nielsen, via The Live Feed, about 31 million people watched Michael Jackson’s memorial service on U.S. television. That compares with 35.1 million for Ronald Reagan in 2004 and 33.3 million for Princess Diana in 1997—but it’s also in an era of smaller audiences overall, not to mention Internet video, which presumably added …
Healthcare Special Ratings Sink: Should Have Brought Bo
The ratings are in for President Obama’s healthcare forum on ABC last night, and as they say on the doctor shows: we’ve checked the charts, and it doesn’t look good. Less than five million people tuned in for the earnest but dull Q&A session on the American health system, compared with the over nine million who watched NBC’s Brian …
Colbert in Iraq: Mission Accomplished
After Conan O’Brien’s ratings decline continued in the beginning of this week, I wondered whether the Tonight Show was being affected by Stephen Colbert’s highly publicized week of USO shows from Iraq. While it’s impossible to establish a direct cause and effect, Bill Carter of the New York Times reports that Colbert’s ratings were way …
Conan Definitively Beats Dave Forever! Not.
Tuesday, CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman beat The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, and an NBC executive reminded us that late-night “is a marathon,” not a sprint.
Last night, Conan edged out Dave in the ratings, posting his first rating increase since he took over. And demographic ratings for last week came in, showing Conan …
That Was Quick: Letterman Overtakes O'Brien
Let’s do this by the numbers:
Rating of Conan O’Brien’s debut Tonight Show: 7.1
Rating of last night’s Tonight Show: 2.9
Rating of last night’s Late Show with David Letterman: 3.4
Episodes it took for Dave to pass Conan: 7
Time it took after ratings news for an NBC executive to use the line that late night “is a marathon,” not …
Ratings: Will Dave Catch Conan?
Conan O’Brien’s ratings fell throughout his debut week last week. That’s not unexpected: you would figure on a big tune-in out of curiosity, including a lot of viewers who are not regular late-night viewers. And while Conan’s ratings tailed off, they also showed signs of finding a level, as his ratings dropped by a lower percentage each …
Jon & Kate Plus 9.8 Million
That’s how many of us enablers viewers tuned to the season 5 premiere of reality show / marital implosion Jon & Kate Plus 8 last night, per the New York Times’ Brian Stelter. Making it the most watched show on TV—including broadcast networks—and more than doubling the 4.6 million who watched the season 4 finale in March.
I had …
Obama Presser: Diminishing Returns?
Like a much-hyped drama debut shedding viewers to find its level, President Obama’s press conferences are drawing fewer viewers each time out. The President’s Wednesday night outing drew 28.8 million viewers on all networks covering, down 29% from his March conference and down from 49.5 million for his first. Nielsen has the numbers. …