Not surprisingly, the last edition of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien was a ratings magnet for the ailing NBC. The comedian, who talked about how he “did it my way” and did not “regret a second,” earned a whopping 7.0 rating/16 share in 55 of the country’s metered markets (the most immediate numbers available). Ratings for his fellow latenight hosts didn’t even come close: The Late Show with David Letterman averaged a mere 2.5/5, while Nightline earned a 2.8/6, and Jimmy Kimmel Live, a 1.3/4. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, however, was able to draft off of O’Brien’s success: his show averaged a respectible 3.3/10, easily beating Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (1.5/4). Final ratings for last night are due Jan. 28.
For more on O’Brien’s departure:
Conan O’Brien’s final monologue
Conan O’Brien’s last night: your take?
NBC reaches a resolution on Conan, announces Jay Leno is back on Tonight March 1
Too bad Leno averaged 8.8 for his last show – and Leno was coming back to TV 3 months later to the SAME network.
Conan got a 7 – and who knows when he’ll be back and where.
Go team CoCo!
LOL
Well there’s certainly no accounting for taste.
Boycott that hack Leno!
Very classy and very touching what Conan said about nobody in life getting what they thought they were going to get. Best wishes Conan, can’t wait to see what you have in store for us in September!!
EWsMom, too bad boring Leno couldn’t average 8.8 mil viewers at the 10pm time slight. His failure to deliver a quality program is the reason this whole mess started!!
But one could also argue that Leno got his 8.8 AFTER having built his audience for 17 years. Conan got his 7 – after just 7 months!
*sniff* Who knew I could actually be so touched by a late night talk show? Conan is pure class.
agreed.
LMAO
Except Leno’s farewell had WAY less press, much less Twitter/Facebook hype…for god sakes, CoCo had MARCHES on the street of L.A….not to mention Conan’s departure has been THE news on all entertainment networks, many online sites, even CNN/MSNBC for TWO WEEKS *AND* he’s been getting buzz on all the other late night shows (Letterman in particular)
….yet he was STILL 10%+ lower than Leno.
And half of Conan’s demographic was out drinking during the finale. It was Friday night after all.
you could also say that because conan was on leno’s last show, that 8.8 came from both conan and leno fans
Hi, I work in major media advertising, I’m here to teach you a few things about media.
The nielsen ratings are pretty much a joke right now, and most of the tv industry knows it. With DVRs, torrenting, online streaming, etc., it’s impossible to tell what the real numbers for anything is anymore. More than that, the nielsen ratings have never been even remotely good metrics (ask anybody who’s taken a basic stats class).
If you think Conan’s audience — an audience, as you pointed out, that is primarly a younger, hipper crowd that by and large uses new media (aka untrackable media) more than watching regular, commercial TV) — is not in sum greater than Leno’s ever was, you’re kidding yourself.
The problem is that advertising revenue is still based on the old system, so while Conan’s numbers have no doubt been bigger, they haven’t appeared that way in ad revenue tracking. And when advertisers can’t trace the amount of people they’re getting to directly, they get unhappy, and can pressure networks like NBC to do stupid things… like cancel Conan for a corporate, unfunny hack.
Basically, Conan is ahead of his time right now, as sad as that is.
…but being “ahead of your time” doesn’t pay the bills.
He can’t play within the current system (as MANY of us have to do within our own careers), you lose your job.
And btw, that “completely unfunny hack” can actually bring in more eyeballs that are measured by Nielsen.
So again, what is your point?
conan viewers are younger. many of us watch tv through the internet like hulu.com. that’s how i watched his show today. we’re not old people with nielsen ratings boxes in our homes. the people that have those in their homes do not represent average america.
“Except Leno’s farewell had WAY less press, much less Twitter/Facebook hype…for god sakes, CoCo had MARCHES on the street of L.A”
Exactly, Leno had 17 years and had no marches. Conan 7 months and was the talk of the town. Not to mention Leno had a decent lead-in all those years, Conan had ’10 at 10′, a primetime show that had lower ratings than his Tonight show.
You seem pretty slow, dear.
Why would Leno have MARCHES???? He wasn’t fired, nor did he lose the Tonight Show after 7 months LOL
Maybe you should tell Leno that. He’s been claiming he was forced out. Get your facts straight. You are correct about one thing though: why would Leno have marches when no one thinks he’s funny? Sure you can point out old folks watch him, but that doesn’t make him funny. In fact, his only funny bit is him sitting on his ass reading viewer submitted newspaper articles. Leno = hack.
Leno had less press? Give me a break! His finale and his moving to prime time had WEEKS of magazine covers, promos and plenty of talk. Conan’s was a rush-job finale as he was pushed out the door after half a year and STILL had similar ratings (and a much better show). Stay classy, Conan. It’s pretty clear you’re the one getting the screws put to you by Leno in this one!
Even though Leno was on HOURS earlier, he only beat Conan by a point. It’s called “Prime Time” for a reason.
Leno got his 8.8 at 11:35…what’s your point?
Other websites reporting HBO, Showtime, TBS, USA, and others are interested in approaching Conan for show. Go Conan!! So ew mom… Haha!
Jay Leno is absolute trash and will die a horrible death. If you laugh at the dreck he labels “comedy”, then there is a large chance you enjoy the music of Nickelback and the stand-up of Dane Cook. You are the worst kind of person, EWsMOM – and I say that solely on the basis of your support for that douchebag Leno. Stop typing lol after your lame comment you worthless turd.
@nigel. Any chance you misread the post?
You sir have the heart of a poet.
Whoa nigel…simmer down there.
Oh yeah…lol.
HAHA couldnt of said it better myself…. Jay Leno has that chin from taking it in face for years
You’re really having a good time, sucking CoCo’s co….., b_thomas
Funny, because Charlie Sheen is an alcoholic, who has threatened both Denise Richards *AND* Brooke Mueler with violence…yet he’s the star of TV’s #1 comedy.
So if people can support a jerk like Charlie Sheen, I’m pretty sure most don’t care about Leno’s shenanigans behind the scenes (which, by the way, you can’t provide us with documented proof)
@jayre. I bet you’re a douche bag in person.
Hey wait a minute Buddy. worthless turds are for CONAN!
myspace.com/turdzilla
youtube.com/therealmuddyzombie
I can assure you that my 79 year old father, who loves Jay Leno, has no clue who Nickelback or Dane Cook are. But I concede your point. Leno is a hack and joke thief of the highest order. His funniest bit, Headlines is a direct rip-off of Letterman’s Small Town News from decades ago. Leno has revealed himself to not only be classless but a simpering kowtower. He is a borderline billionaire and he needs The Tonight Show job like he needs another hole in his head. He should have gracefully retired from TV when his 10pm show got canceled. He never was and never will be, Johnny Carson but he’s certainly shown himself to be a corporate lackey.
Conan got a 4.8 in 18-49 demo, Jay got a 3.4 for his last show, so thats a 40% increase for Coco over Jay, and this is the most important thing to look at.
You’re exactly right, Joe. Too bad people like “EWsMom” don’t have the intelligence to understand such figures.
Right. Jay’s audience is getting older. Soon, his audience won’t be able to stay up to watch him. Conan, on the other hand, has a young audience that is incredibly loyal.
CoCo’s audience is SOOOO loyal, that they didn’t bother tuning in until one week before his departure
….in other words, you might wanna check the definition of loyalty.
Leno had 17 years worth of “loyal” people who didn’t follow him to 10PM
Leno’s ratings at 10pm were equivalent to his ratings at 11:35pm from his 2008-2009 season.
(a touch higher in total viewers, equal demo)
Your point is again….?
exactly. jay leno’s ratings were abysmal his first few years of taking over the tonight show. remember, anyone? duh. in any case, jay leno is unfunny to younger people. conan is the host for the younger demographic and he should have been left where he is so that we could grow old with him and eventually build the fan base just like leno or letterman.
EWsMom I’m so sad for people like you.
And I feel SO sad for people like you, who can’t accept that not everyone is a fan of CoCo – and judging by his performance over the past 7 months…not many people are.
So please, get over yourself.
ewwwww’s mom: i guess you really don’t know anything about the history of the tonight show. back when jay took over, his ratings were ABYSMAL for the first couple of years. all the old people like you kept talking about how jay could never fill johnny’s shoes. you’re a broken record and unoriginal. you’re just old and can’t accept change.
And you just can’t accept the fact that CoCo is out of a job and Jay Leno is taking his spot.
Sucks to be CoCo fans…shuffled out by an old, washed-up comic LOL
Well you’re right about Leno being an old washed up comic. It’s actually the only thing you’ve ever typed on here that didn’t make you sound like an ignoramus. Or Jeff Zucker.
CoCo got a multimillion dollar deal to leave a last place network, with the possibility to start a better rated network. He really is the true winner out of all this.
ew’smom your life is sad if you have the time and no life apparently that you sit and respond endlessly to peoples comments about your post, one response sad multiple responses equates to no life .
Conan got a 4.8 share in the coveted 18-49 age demographic — only American Idol has scored that recently.
I’ve said this time and time again…Leno’s ratings are inflated by the sheer number of senior citizens that fall asleep midway through his unfunny monologue and never change the channel. Can the Chin amass such a large public outcry if he were treated the way Conan was? Doubt it. His fans would be too senile to even remember what they were marching for.
Who cares about these ratings. In the 18-49 key demographic (which is what really matters when looking at ratings) Conan got a dominant 4.8 which was stronger than anything in late night and prime time on Friday AND Thursday. Plus, it was over 40% better than the 3.4 Leno got for his last show.
After all of this, Conan is now finally ready to beat both Leno and Letterman at 11:30 when he joins with Fox in September.
Jay “Gollum” Leno’s guest that night was Conan, so I guess people were interested. Who’s laughing now! LOL
It’s not fair to compare any of Leno’s Tonight Show ratings to Conan’s, for the simple reason that Leno had much stronger lead-in’s from NBC’s previous 10 PM lineup and local news.
After Leno killed the 10 PM slot, and decimated the locals’ 11 PM news ratings, the Tonight Show naturally had lower ratings. And that would necessarily impact the finale as well.
Remember, Leno was getting fired from the 10 PM slot. That’s the real reason Conan is gone. Leno had to be fired at 10 PM or the affiliates would have murdered the network. Moving him back to 11:30 is just NBC’s desperate attempt to salvage something from the “Leno in prime time” disaster.
EWsMOM, i hope ur not really a mom..please tell me ur not!!! No no ur not..cuz moms have faaaar more important issues to take care of and think about rather than goin on some website to mock younger people!
i’m actually hoping that ur a kid, cuz only kids have an attitude like yours and talk the way you do!
i honestly believe that you’re one of those kids that post comments anywhere just to annoy others.
Either way….really UR SAD!
I WILL NEVER let my remote click near NBC when LENO is on!!!
Mcdonald’s sells more “food” than any other restaurant chain in the world. Guess that means theirs is the best! ,-)
Hahahaha! Nice point.
ewsmom is an ignorant cunt
Your comment is vulgar and I have reported you to EW’s webmaster.
@Pisces: Looks like the tattling worked out for you.
I agree with all the negative and obscene remarks regarding “ewsmom.”
honey, who wan on Leno’s last show? CONAN!!! thats why IIII watched…bet i want see a thing he’s in now….LETTERMAN here i come!
who was on Leno’s last show? CONAN!
So glad he is gone and this is over. I feel bad for the 200 people that followed him out to LA. I’d be pissed if I were them that he wouldn’t move the show a measly 30 minutes. Yeah real great guy, not!
Ah but Conan earned 4.8 rating with adults 18-49, while Leno’s “final show” on May 29 earned a 3.4 rating with that same group. So yes, Leno can still pull in the wrinklies… but Conan gets the demographic advertisers — and the network — actually want.
u idiot leno got 4 million thats it conan destroyed his ratings moron.
so annoying that i can’t even read this article because of the stupid bing advertisement covering it!!! I know ew needs revenue, but this is like the fourth article I’ve read today that has been half-covered by this stupid video.
It’s because your web browser sucks. Try Firefox 3.6, if you can manage to figure out how.
Thank you for someone stating that. The drop down advertisement is annoying and sometimes takes an act of Congress to move.
I’m glad I’m canadian, 80% of bing and other overlay ads are targed to usa visitors, us canadians get the flat banners
Yeah, but when they post clips from Hulu we can see sh!t
Yeah, but when they post clips from Hulu we can’t see sh!t
Oh so true Janitor! haha I would trade having to wait for the close button on any Bing advert over not seeing any hulu vids they link to.
I’ll miss Conan! But, he will bounce back, no doubt! I look forward to Jay’s “Tonight Show”!…Given the flack Jay has gotten…, especially from Letterman and Kimmel, Jay will get the last laugh!
Um, no he won’t.
Um yes he will… I think it will take a little while to sustain his numbers but he’s going on Oprah and I think you underestimate the power of O if you think he won’t get his following back…
Even if he does, he doesn’t deserve it. And anyone rooting for Leno after all this is either awful, ignorant, or both
Do Jay and Oprah have the same audience?
The way the world is today, Jay probably will get the last laugh. Too bad he won’t be inducing much laughter from his television audience.
Jay may well get the last laugh, he’s shown over the years that he’s willing to do anything unethical to get it.
However he got my last laugh around 1989 or so, after that he turned off the funny and became a lowest common denominator hack.
exactly… greedy jay wants to leave while he’s #1, failed at 10pm so he has to go back on the tonight show to get his #1 spot before retiring.
Instead of doing the ethical thing and retiring, he’s forcing 100 people out of a job and ruining conans dream. 17 years on the tonight show is a long enough run, I hope letterman kills him this summer, fans need to rally and boycott jay.
LOL!!!
Leno is forcing 100 people out of a job?
Hello – earth to JOE
If Conan had just accepted the 12:05am slot, NO ONE would be losing their job. Duh.
And “ruining” Conan’s dream? LOL you’re a riot…really.
EWsMom-
If Conan accepted the 12:05 show he would have put Fallon’s show in jeopardy by moving it later and ended Carson Daly’s show. Conan stepped aside because he did not want to be a part of the demise of two shows that were not his own. Clearly people would be losing jobs. What he did was selfless and Jay could learn from it.
Jay should have kept his word and stayed retired. If Jay will lie to people in public, you can imagine what he does behind the scenes.
Please don’t try to argue with EWsMom…she has such a hard on for Jay, her eyes are crossed.
well i just feel bad for EW that she’s tarnishing their name by using it. She should be NBCsMom if she doesn’t understand what the move to 1205 would have meant.
thank you, patrick. ewwwwww’s mom hasn’t got a brain to think about the domino effect that would have been caused by pushing the shows back. whether it was conan’s people or carson daly’s people, a bunch of people would have lost their jobs. conan is a class act for stepping aside. he alone is preserving the “tonight” show not accepting a 1205am slot which would make it the MORNING” show. it’s jay leno’s fault alone that his show sucked at 10pm and created an awful lead-in for the nightly news and eventually conan’s show. why should everyone else have to move because his show sucked? what a selfish prick!
Jay has never gotten an actual laugh, because he’s not funny.
Uh, his last laugh will be the first. He’s completely unfunny.
Now that’s funny.
Hmmm… i chose to reply to Jay’s comment and it showed i replied to loco for coco’s.
Im from wisconsin so the brett farve thing worked well for me.
There are rumors that Jay Leno’s first gues will be Brett Farve and they are going to announce their respective retirements again.
I think it is now pretty fair to say that Jay can be a mean spirited person. The real issue is that he even said to NBC prime time would be a mistake, so when you announced you were retiring in 2009, either do it or don’t. His ego thought who could do well in prime-time and his ego wanted the Tonight show back. Dave is still the guy who was picked by Johnny to host the tonight show and it was Johnny who told him that once Jay had the show it was not the same tonight show any more.
I put up with Leno after the whole Dave Letterman mess years ago. He is kind of like melba toast. He is not anything to write home about, and never will be. I don’t care that he is going on Oprah either. As a matter of fact she will be off the air soon too, and I have decided that because she is going to have him on that I will not watch her again either. If she has a new network I will never watch that either. I know it sounds kind of crazy, but I think Jay has just done too much now. I read his explanation on how it all went down, and I understood it. I read between the lines, and I still didn’t like it. I am done. I suffered for 7 months with him on a ten PM taking up my prime time decent shows and I was not at all happy, and I know many other people who weren’t as well. I wish Conan the best, and I think even if he would have been lousy in that time slot, (which he wasn’t) he wasn’t even allowed to get his foot in the door. NBC you suck. I am disgusted that Oprah is embracing you like she is, and I will never forgive her for it. My thoughts on that is that NBC thinks that after a few months, and also because Oprah is getting involved everything is going to go back to normal eventually. Well in my book that is not how it is going to happen.
Why do you automatically think Oprah is “embracing” Jay? She has never been known to shy away from tough questions. My guess is that she will take Jay to task for the NBC situation. It’s ridiculous to boycott her because she is interviewing a guest that you don’t like (for the record, I never watched the Jay Leno-hosted “Tonight Show” and have always been a Conan fan), especially if that fan is currently in the news. It’s just business; just because he is on her show doesn’t mean she’s promoting him necessarily. Remember James Frey?
wow, christine, you are way too involved in your TV life. read a book!
I know others have said this before, but it gets old reading snotty troll-y comments telling people to ‘get a life’, ‘read a book’, etc. Most of us come here because we are passionate about tv, and I personally make no apologies for that. TV is no worse a way to spend one’s time than any other form of entertainment is, and the reason why anyone even comes to this site is to read about and discuss entertainment issues. If you don’t think that’s fun or enjoyable, don’t read the comments on entertainment websites. I really wish that EW would immediately delete these types of remarks.
“read a book!” -itsama
Said by the person posting on an internet website….ooook…
Christine, I think you’re taking this way too seriously. In fact, so are most of the people on this page. Why don’t y’all turn off the TV and read a book instead?
it’s possible for an individual to both watch tv and read books. I’m currently pursuing a graduate degree in English Lit at Yale, yet I’ve been following this whole saga. people can multitask, you know. how simple to think otherwise.
I really hate to say this, because Oprah is first and foremost an interviewer, and supposedly has no leanings when she interviews controversial figures, but since her Sarah Palin interviews, I’m not so sure. I still think her POV is quite fair, but she has gone soft in my eyes. Being a friend of the Prez, I was sure she’d be harder on Palin, and demand straight answers. Not so. And Jay? He’ll give all the glib answers he can get away with, and she will probably let him slide. Hope I’m wrong. It’s far from important in the scheme of things, except in Palin and in Leno there is a fundamental lack of integrity which needs to be fully addressed. I for one want to see him squirm (thankU Jimmy Kimmel!!!), and I hope she will ask the hard questions he’s been avoiding. Period. Conan will come back stronger than ever, kids! Count on it. What a mensch! Long may you run, indeed!!
Leno didn’t orchestrate the NBC mess. It was weird them taking Leno off when he was beating the competition. They should have kept Obrien after Leno. His querky humor fit there. I didn’t watch Obrien at 11:35. Jimmy Fallen is terrible. NBC execs are idiots.
Neil Young sang the perfect song for Conan. Originally about a car, “Long may you run” took a new meaning and Neil sang it with passion and in the moment.
NBC should have kept this ratings bonanza going for a few more weeks. Espcially since Leno is not ready to return until March. It seems that the “business minded” executives at NBC actually forgot about the good of the company and took the jokes too personally. That’s not a smart business practice. They passed up on possibly 30 more nights of exciting TV and high ratings. Poor Comcast loses more $ on NBC exec’s bad decision-making.
Yeah but NBC was getting ticked off at Coco…probably no doubt due to all the jabs he made at them…
Oh well, I look forward to seeing some Coco in the future, whenever that might be….
There is no late night programming for most of February because of the Olympics. That’s why Conan is off now and Jay isn’t starting until March 1st. I am not a fan of NBC or Jay, but this is ONE time NBC made a reasonable decision.
The Winter Olympics start February 12 (and that’s just the opening ceremony). Today is Jan 23. There was time for lots more $$$ for NBC if Zucker didn’t find it imperative to get Conan out ASAP.
Agreed – Zucker made rushed decisions last week based on fear of bad publicity. A good businessman would have been thinking about the best way to capitalize on a money-making opportunity.
Jeff Zucker is a moron. Clearly Conan’s ratings were going to be high because of the drama/controversy etc. Zucker should have kept Conan until the day Leno restarted in March. What person with any knowledge of broadcasting couldn’t figure this out?
Unfortunately, I believe the Olympics were going to be preempting Conan for most of February anyway.
It’s about time he realized he was pushing things to far. I think he is really close to buring his bridges with TV exec.’s accross all networks and in that industry a person does not want to do that. Why would any network hire someone who was slamming them as hard as he was it makes for a poor business practice and makes people look twice at hiring you. Glad he finally showed some humility.
To Christine: Go get a life! U seem spending all your time watching TV that it seems your life is coming to an end when Conan leaves. Grow up! and go exercise or do something useful in your life…
Conan is a quick wit. Leno is an old, irrelevant, unfunny fart. Conan appeals to people with higher educations. Leno appeals to the uneducated who cannot see the joke being telegraphed. I would suggest that Leno’s audience is comprised of high school and lower but that would be an insult to all the people currently in high school.
Love Conando!!!!!
Itll be interesting to see what Conan can take with him. The “intelectual properties” nonsense only cost Dave, the little short guy Calvin Deforest. I think everything else he still uses.
I’d like to see Leno back hiding in a closet eavesdropping, and someone locks the closet door and throws away the key. Oh and Kevin Eubanks should be placed in there too. Of course he’d probably still giggle throughout the whole time
Awesome farewell show.
really the best episode of the Tonight Show since mid-70′s Johnny Carson.
When you count stoners as your fan base, this is what happens: they show up too late. Guy never should have been on TV – he’s frightening to look at – was better as a writer on The Simpsons. Should have stayed behind the scenes.
Wow, so it comes down to looks with you! Because we all know comedians must be good-looking to be funny. What a moron.
Stoners? Maybe. More educated and younger than Leno’s audience? Yes. NBC is probably lining up Cialis commercials as we type…
You like Jay’s looks? Large chin fetish?
I liked watching Jay for many years, but I always looked forward to seeing CoCo for the late night. I find his quirky behavior very refreshing and he is IMO funnier and wittier than Jay is currently. Jay is a great comic like Michael Jordan was a great basketball player. However there comes a time when you have to pass the torch, and thats what should have happened. Conan deserves to be the Tonight Host and I’ll support him whereever he goes. That being said, I am a man of fairness and due to recent events I will not watch nor support Jay Leno anymore.
’cause Leno is sooooo hot right?! what a stupid comment!
Put it this way – what do you hear more during a monologue for Jay … laughter or applause?
Conan and Dave may not have as many jokes and they have some cricket moments, but they get more laughs than Leno. Jay gets a few chuckles after umpteen million repetitive jokes and keeps yukking it up for some applause.