As expected, viewers definitely tuned in to see Jay Leno’s return to The Tonight Show last night: the comedian led the time period over Late Show with David Letterman and ABC’s combination of Nightline and Jimmy Kimmel Live by 80 percent, according to NBC. Leno scored a 5.4 rating/14 share in 56 metered markets last night while Letterman earned a 3.0/8, Nightline, a 3.4/8 and Live, a 1.8/6. In the 25 markets with People Meters, Leno was No. 1 in the time period.
At 12:35 a.m, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon also beat CBS’s Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson by a margin of 40 percent. NBC is expected to release early national ratings later today.
UPDATE: NBC released fast national ratings from Monday, which revealed that Leno attracted 6.6 million viewers on his first night back, while Letterman lured 3.8 million. Leno earned a 1.6 rating in the 18-49 demo, versus a 1.1 rating for Letterman. For more on Leno’s return:
Will he be able to hold on to that though? I doubt he will. More than likely people tuned it due to all of the hype surrounding the big switch and realized that Leno was nothing more than regurgitated material on an old set. I think those numbers will drop and Letterman will end up as #1.
@sarah
Jay Leno has always had great ratings and he has always beat Letterman. I doubtthat would change. This is not directly aimed at you,but if Conan was so great why did his ratings suck, I mean really suck?
Yes, who who….because we all know that ratings determine what is good or bad quality. That’s why that cesspool of STDs known as the Bachelor did well.
Because his ratings didn’t REALLY suck. He consistently won the most important 18-45 bracket at a time when his show was just getting started (also contrary to what you say, Leno had worse problems when he first started and didn’t get good ratings until 2 years had gone by). He also didn’t have Johnny Carson’s doing a 9pm show that plummeted NBC’s ratings before the 10:30 Tonight Show. I’m pretty sure that the cancellation of Leno’s show combined with a couple of years for the old-timers to either pass on or get used to Conan would have made Conan just as successful as Leno or Letterman. The guy is quite a comedic genius (he wrote some of the best Simpsons episodes, for instance).
1.) he was new to that timeslot and many of the tonight show viewers. It should have been understood that it was going to take a little while to build up a following.
2.) Conan had a show with horrible ratings leading into his show. Put CSI or Law and Order on in front of Conan and many of those viewers may have stuck around for him.
3.) Ratings have nothing to do with how great someone is.
The reason O’Brien’s ratings sucked is because Jay Leno’s biggest audience is women 50-years-old or older. Apparently 50+ year old women consider Leno’s boring banter entertaining. O’Brien is a greater talent but his brand of humor doesn’t sit well with older women. Don’t ask me why but it’s probably something to do with being pre or post menopausal
Conan’s ratings sucked because he had Leno as a lead in where as Leno when he was at 11:35 had a great lead in with Law and Order. Let me show you the real math… Law and Order was pulling in an average 18 share and the drop off at 11:30 to Leno was an average 5.4 that’s a drop of roughly 12.5 million viewers were turning off Leno. Conan’s lead in was Leno who at 10:00 was only again a 5.4. Conan averaged a 2.8 share which is only a loss of 2.6 million viewers. seems like more people turned off Leno at 11:30 to me.
Scooby Doo, 50+ women are in bed when Late Night goes on. You are all wrong in your assessment.
It’s pretty simple really. NBC didn’t want to lose Leno but they’d promised the tonight show to Conan long ago. So they come up with a 10pm Leno show that effectively divided his original audience. Half followed him at 10pm to the new show while the other half tuned in at 11:30 to Conan. Leno’s ratings at 10pm also sucked. NBC did this to themselves by trying to keep Leno’s dedicated audience and by providing both Leno and Conan they divided the original audience into two lesser halves. If Leno hadn’t done the 10:00pm show Conan would have had a larger audience. Leno’s complaints about Conan’s performance ring hollow to me since he provided his fans an alternative to the Tonight show. And if Jay was so great how come his rating’s at 10pm suck and as you say ‘I mean really suck’. How many times in history have a networks stations have dramatic drops of up to 50% of viewers in the 11pm local newscast. Down 48% in New York, off 43% in Los Angeles, off 47% in Philadelphia. Does anybody even remember the shows that were there before Leno? All of that dramatic loss of viewers (nationwide and in almost all markets) came at the launch of the Leno show lead-in. And remember how we got Leno back at 11:30. NBC stations were in revolt and contemplating dropping the 10pm Leno show because of the loss in viewers.
Leno stunk it up his first few years, only after he had solid support from great lead ins like ER (which started in 1994) did he start to take off. Leno supporters always LOVE to forget this fact when bashing Conan who only had 7 months. Leno is plain and boring – I hope the baby boomers enjoy him along with their Flomax
This 50 year old woman despises Jay Leno. There is nothing about him I find remotely entertaining. My 21 year old son wanted to watch last night to find out how bad it would be and mean he would get, but I said no. How many others tuned in last night for the same reason?
Chistosa, you don’t know what you’re talking about. The Nielsen ratings proved that it IS 50+ year old women that comprise the majority of Jay’s audience. Please do a little research before you spew nonsense on the internet, where information is readily available to all.
Because most of the people in this country do not like humor that is edgy or makes them think…they like mediocrity like (to quote Howard Stern) that “f***ing karaoke show American Idol.”
Why did Conan’s rating suck? Because his slacker fans didn’t take time to actaully watch his show. Just YouTube clips and internet chatter are all they really care about. They expected Conan to be on, but only watch clips.
If this keeps up, the entertainment biz will start charging for the interent content. Then, entitled slackers will cry foul, since they exepct freebees. How about working for them??
Your 21 year old son wanted to watch Leno but you said no? Let him watch R rated movies? Probably not.
Tomm — What? Those ‘slackers’ are ratings gold to advertisers. Big consumers. And Jay’s numbers in that demographic aren’t great. That’s pretty bad for NBC. Say what you will about my generation, but we’re more educated, have higher paying jobs (even adjusted for inflation,) and have larger spending power. And yes, technologically-savvy. Watching a full hour of TV vs. a clip on youTube says absolutely nothing about a person’s procrastination habits. Nothing. If anything, NOT sitting still for a full hour could imply less of an inclination towards “slacking”. You’re making points up with no numbers to back it up.
jay struggled for 2 seasons when Letterman first aired on CBS. And all it took for the American Public to switch was a guy Named Hugh Grant bcuz of a Prostitute. Which says a lot about American TV audiences. Conan is funnier but Jay never raises the bar, its just old ass Clinton Lewinsky jokes and Headlines, dopey and never evolving.
What people forget about Conan too is that when he started at 11:30 he had to go up against Letterman who was already established at 11:30. When Leno got the 11:30 time slot, Letterman was just moving over to CBS (from his 12:30 slot at NBC), so they were BOTH new to the 11:30 time slot. It was esentially an even playing field. As is well documented here, Conan had several factors to contend with that Leno and Letterman never had to face.
Dear 50 year old woman,
Do you really control what your 21 year old son watches on tv??? If so, I’m uncertain as to whether I should be more afraid of you or him.
Yes Terry, since I was in the same room it was a no. He could have watched just about any R movie he wanted, just not the insipid waste of airtime that is Leno.
Jay did not always beat Letterman. It took him about 2 years. (I know others have already pointed this out) With Google it is very easy to check your information before posting it.
@Carm Shut up. “go look it up on google before posting it” YOU ARE A NERD
He had Leno as a lead in which didnt help.
When will Letterman be #1? Jay was #1 the whole 15 years he did Tonite Show. He’s back where he belongs. And back as Number 1.
No he wasn’t. Letterman beat him for the first three years until Hugh Grant picked up a hooker.
Middle-(boring)-America likes Leno. Mini-vans, bi-focals, conservatives, Birkenstocks. Yuck! He doesn’t make them think too hard, he doesn’t offend anyone. He NEVER tries anything new. You wanted it, you got it. A big bland butt kisser.
Leno is the hero to dumb republicans with no sense of humor.
Shows that coastal people are clueless. LA is so ‘hip’, but also bankrupt and a huge swill of fast food and smog.
Ha! I agree with THX.
By the way, I am a 50 year old woman who LOVES Conan!
I STILL want to know who is providing these “ratings.” Have you ever been a Nielsen family? Ever known one? Me neither.
In answer to MK’s question…we were a Nielsen family about 15 years ago. We were called and asked if we wanted to participate and were then mailed a detailed viewing journal for each member of the family on which we had to list our gender..age…etc. and fill in what we each were watching for the entire week and then mail it back to them ASAP. Prior to that experience I had always thought that they actually monitor your TV as proof of what you were watching but that wasn’t the case.
Hey, I’m a 50+ woman and Conan O’Brien sits just fine with me. He is by far wittier, funnier and smarter than Jay Leno (who is awfully tired). And David Letterman’s a bit predictable too, but I’ll watch him anytime over JL.
Except for the last 10 years Leno has beaten Letterman every night with only a few exceptions. I’m not saying he’s better I’m just saying his numbers probably won’t drop below David’s.
Here’s what I’m hoping. I’m hoping that the people who watched last night saw what a talentless hack Leno truly is.
Ofcourse he’ll stay at No 1. People love stuff you don’t have to think about.
Jay Leno consistently beat David Letterman in the ratings before Conan took over the show.
ugh. ugh. ugh.
That was my first reaction as well, though it’s also important to note that Conan’s first night was a 7.1/17, significantly higher than Leno’s re-premiere.
And then the suck started.
his ratings will return to normal by next week
Which means they will still be better than Letterman’s.
Thanks, Dave, for pointing out what it seems like some “coco” (my editorial comment: WTF??)fans are missing: Jay had the ratings. It was NBC’s ginormous mistake in firing the guy who was number one in the ratings. Now they’ve fixed it and brought Leno back.
If Dave and Diane mated, their first child will be a rock. One dumb rock.
The reason for Anti-Leno’s can be best said by Leno himself. Here is an exceprt from the Oprah interview:
WINFREY: Pay me out, pay out my staff. You could have done that.
Mr. LENO: I could have done that, but I didn’t. They offered me my old job back.
WINFREY: Right, I get that.
Mr. LENO: Which is the dream job. I said okay.
-Instead of paying off his staff and bowing out gracefully, he opted to take the job and push Conan out. Had he left, Conan would have remained in the traditional Tonight Show slot and without Leno fouling up the lead-in ratings for local news, the Tonight Show, IMO, would have garnered an audience and done well.
I like Conan way better, and wish he was still doing the show… but it really is true that Leno was number one for a long time, and it made no sense that NBC made him leave the show in the first place. I don’t think Leno’s funny, but that didn’t stop him from being number one forever, and I think the amount of people that won’t watch him because of the whole debacle is, in reality, probably not very big. Like it or not (and I don’t), for some reason Leno gets good ratings… at 11:30.
What my point is, is that just because you don’t like Jay doesn’t mean that he’s not going to get good ratings. And people that point out that he was number one before he moved aren’t stupid for saying it, nor are they wrong.
That’s beside the point Dave. NBC paid $150 million for a horse (Leno) who they will have to shoot in about five years. When Leno dies or goes senile, who will take over the Tonight Show? Long term, what NBC did was incredibly stupid. Conan was actually starting to make some gains before the 10pm (9 pm central) Leno show arrived. Furthermore, Leno had three years of getting raped by Letterman in the ratings before he finally got where he was. NBC sold out their future for a guy who finds weird headlines and interviews idiots on the street…..might as well hire Gallagher and call it a day.
We did mate and you can call me Dad. Thanks
Ewww….now you’re just getting creepy, old man.
Run along and play little guy. Daddy has to go to work now.
Obviously not since you’re posting like mad on these boards.
Please, you’re probably at home in your torn up boxers jaykoffing to Leno’s picture.
Isn’t Jack special?
Just because I slow down and look at a car crash does not mean that I am a fan of car crashes.
great analogy … they should shut off this message board because that says it all.
I’m guessing that’s what lead to the end of Conan. People tired of watching the car crash.
What a horrible thing to say. People die because of car crashes. Nobody dies from watching Leno – only their brain cells.
My heart dies from watching him. Leno is so unfunny.
WHY are people still watching this show??? I honestly do not understand.
Because old people don’t read the message boards.
I don’t need to read a message board to know what I want to watch. I actually decide for myself.
This is your brain.
00000000000
This is your brain on Letterman.
———–
Good one, Dave! Too bad 5 out of 5 doctors agree that you are Grade A stupid. It’s been proven that Leno fans have a higher incidence of trisomy 21, as well as a penchant for NASCAR racing.
To sum up: Stupid. Retard. NASCAR. Leno.
Don’t like NASCAR. Have a University degree. Also know that you only call people names or other wise demean them when you have no educated response to their statement.
An online University, no doubt. You should practice what you preach, Dave. I believe you comment implied that watching Letterman kills your brain, i.e., brain dead. I don’t know what backwoods hole you crawled out of, but here, calling someone braindead is an insult. Roll that up in your online degree and smoke it.
Wow. That’s cutting edge humor there. Only had to dip back to 1987 for that little bon mot. You should try sending that to Leno for his monologue. Maybe he could somehow squeeze it in between his usual Monica Lewinsky and Viagra cracks.
Just my way of getting into your head. Which I see was successful.
You’re in my head, alright. You are filed under: Stoopid.
Stupid is the only file in your head. Which I own.
Oh, snap! The old geezer is on the warpath! Look out! Mind games! Ooohhhhh. Seriously, if Leno puts in half the effort that you are putting into this, Dave, he might have a show that only sucks 99%.
Thanks for making my afternoon! Now go change your depends and don’t forget to take your Aricept.
My brother and his wife love Leno’s show. Sad to say, my brother and his wife are also the dumbest people I know.
LOL!! David Letterman is my choice. I love his ascerbic wit.
Why am I not surpried to see the pro-Conan sore losers out in full force. What sad lives these people must lead when they have nothing better to do but spam any site that mentions Jay Leno. Well spam away guys because Jay Leno, King of Late Night, will once again beat Letterman and his obsequious bandleader Paul Shaffer. Audiences prefer Jay over Letterman’s nasty attitude.
You’ve got quite the vocab for a dummy.
You’re an asshole!
Thanks, Soldier! If our military is stocked with the likes of you, then, by golly, we’re going to lick those terrorists by cursing at them! Son, get your GED first before you play with the big boys. Now run along and go polish your pistol. And I don’t mean the one with the bullets.
Son? Don’t call anyone son until you know how old there are “Gramps”…
Further indications of igrnorance, Keep up the good work, it seems what you’re best at.
@here – wow, just wow. I applaud your brazen stupidity for attempting to be clever. You, sir, are a true Leno fan.
WHERE WERE ALL THESE LENO SUPPORTERS DURING THE TERRIBLY RATED JAY LENO SHOW?????????
He had the same ratings for his 10:00 show that he had for The Tonight Show (look it up). Both of which outdid Conan.
Both of Jay’s shows also had better lead-ins than Conan. And, if Carson was given a 10:00 spot instead of retiring back in the day, Jay’s show would have had crappy ratings too.
That lead-in argument is a bunch of bull. You telling me you watch the same channel from 10:00 – 1:00? No one watches TV like that except for old people and by Conan fan logic those people would have been watching Leno and would have left it on for Conan.
Ratings are counted at the start of the show. You’re not discounted if you don’t watch the whole thing. A show finishes and it leads into the next show. Lead-ins are incredibly important to TV networks. The whole issue started because of the affiliate’s weak lead-ins. Local news divisions has significantly lower ratings. If they hadn’t complained about that, Jay would still be on at 10:00 and Conan at 11:35.
Please. Conan viewers don’t watch local news. Find another conspiracy theory to hang your hat on.
No, his fans watched Conan’s show regardless of what was on beforehand. His numbers didn’t change from his 12:35 show to his 11:35 show. The poor lead-in prevented new people from watching. The affiliates complained because Jay Leno caused them to lose business. If Jay Leno wasn’t on the air at all and Law and Order was in its place, then Conan would have had higher ratings.
Hey, “Lay Jeno” — excuse me, but please *do not* presume to speak for all Conan fans (or any for that matter). I have been watching the late local news on the NBC affiliate station since it was the lead in for Carson, although I’ve since changed over to the CBS late local when NBC made their decision to remove Conan from “The Tonight Show”. Sounds like you are trying to either say that a) Conan O’Brien fans are uninterested in the news and/or b) making the assumption that Conan’s fans all are so easily categorized into one neat little age-range. I imagine you’ve heard that old saying about what happens when one assumes. Well, there you go.
I’d rather have Letterman’s biting wit to neutered tripe that Leno churns out.
Sarcasim is “biting wit”???…..
As opposed to life’s biggest winner, the guy spamming an entertainment site on behalf of his hero, Jay Leno. Please do come back to tell us more about our sad lives once you finish your mid-morning nap needed after having to stay up until 12:35 last night.
As expected? Didn’t the critics predict he would fail…
Blech. There’s no accounting for bad taste. Seniors REVOLT!
People tend to like to watch trainwrecks.
After the hype has died down, it’s going to be all downhill
Lols
People, what happened to the “let’s boycott “Jaw” Leno” or the “I will never ever watch the tonight show again” ???
TV viewers are such who*res!
Those people didn’t watch Leno before anyway, and those who did watch him on the Tonight Show have obviously come back.
Didn’t he get big ratings on Sept 14 when the Jay Leno Show debuted?
Good gawd, who are these morons watching this creep? ugggh.
Huge & loyal Letterman/Ferguson fan here. If they aren’t on my set isn’t on. I don’t get counted in the #s because I watch TV by using an antenna or online.
Fuck Jay Leno.
james – I love you.
I cant hate on Leno but I still cant figure out how he was No. 1 on all those years. I mean he is soooooo unfunny. His jokes are like ‘why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side LOL’. I am sure we have alot of older retired folks who watched him at night. They dont have to work the next morning and have to stick to Leno.
Here’s why Jon.
Middle America blue collar baby boomers.
Change scares them.
They want to be fed the same thing nightly, in moderate doses.
Listen to the comments: “Letterman’s mean! Conan is childish!” Sound like grandma don’t they?
You mean suburban America. Chicago is in the midwest….and is firmly with CoCo.
The term “Middle America” is not the same as the midwest genuis. It’s the lowest common denominator. Jay is like USA Today or People magazine. The smartest/youngest/hippest people and the dumbest/oldest/nerdiest people won’t like it but everyone in between there will.
Conan had an obsession with tweeking his nipples. Talk about suck.
The problem with Conan is that his fans cross over with Letterman’s fans too much. He loses too many viewers to Dave. Leno has, for the most part, totally different fans than Letterman and therefore doesn’t lose any viewers to him.
Seems pretty simple to me.
Gotta agree with you “Jay Leno.” It is a totally different demo. Whereas Conan and Dave share many of the same type of viewers…smart, hip, outside the mainstream…Jay doesn’t challenge your mind so much as make fun of the people he finds that are truly uneducated (and probably his viewers). Seriously…do you really believe all the people they interview on Jay Walking are THAT stupid??
MK, I actually totally agree with everything you wrote.