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Letterman trumps Conan
Topic Started: Jun 10 2009, 06:40 PM (1,431 Views)
Rick
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Dreamlander

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Ratings-Letterman-Conan-1006780.aspx?rss=breakingnews

On their seventh day of head-to-head competition, David Letterman's Late Show squeaked past Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show, though by a slim margin — one half of a rating point.

Still, Letterman's latest performance represents a 13 percent week-to-week gain, while Conan has dropped 42 percent since his Tonight Show debut.

The Tonight Show's numbers, in fact, have declined every night since O'Brien seized the reins on June 1. To be fair, on Tuesday night he was hampered by soft lead-in numbers courtesy of NBC's NHL coverage.

Letterman's guests for Tuesday were Julia Roberts (who told her host, "You are so much funnier than other people who talk at this time of the evening") and the Black Eyed Peas, while O'Brien welcomed Eddie Murphy, The Office's Angela Kinsey and Bonnie Raitt.

The last time Dave topped The Tonight Show was on consecutive nights in mid-October 2008, with guests John McCain and Tina Fey.



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Kevc1980
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I love it...I knew Conan wouldn't be able to hold The Tonight Show audience..NBC has to be freaking out right now..
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IMissAremid
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After all... tomorrow is another day!

The Tonight Show is in "freefall" when David Letterman "squeaked past" Conan in the ratings?
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King
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YES!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love Dave. I think he is so underrated. I adore him.
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peaches179
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King
Jun 11 2009, 11:43 AM
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love Dave. I think he is so underrated. I adore him.

Me too!
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PhoenixRising05
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IMissAremid
Jun 11 2009, 10:21 AM
The Tonight Show is in "freefall" when David Letterman "squeaked past" Conan in the ratings?
I know, right? That is a little dramatic.

Having said that, I knew this would happen early on because Conan is not the conventional 11:30 type of late night personality. His style is more for 12:30 and I'm shocked by alot of what he has been doing at 11:30. I really thought he would be a bit more tamed. I'm happy he isn't but, alas, I think that may turning many traditional Tonight Show viewers off.

I also think it doesn't help that after the first few nights, he's gotten some lousy guests. He had such big names the first few nights with Will Ferrel, Pearl Jam, Green Day, Tom Hanks, etc. Now, it's dropped off to people like Dane Cook (who is popular but still). Plus, Conan seems to be back into the pattern of having lesser known musical guests or a comedian rather then a musical guest. That is not going to work. The reason many of these shows, including Leno's, do well is because of the popularity of the guests they have. If you can't consistently have big names on, then your pretty much fucked. I do think it takes some time for the big names to come but you would think that they would book the show a little better. This isn't 12:30 anymore. You can't get away with lesser known bands. It makes a difference.

Now, I'm not sure if this will turn around. Maybe it will when Leno returns to lead-in to the news and then Conan. However, I've always felt that this would never work permanently. I love Conan, moreso then Jay Leno, but I do think Conan is more suited for 12:30. I've always felt this would be temporarily and that all would go back to normal within a year. I think that is more or less why they kept Leno in the first place. Conan's numbers in Late Night were starting to go down anyway as Ferguson was cutting into them. I think NBC knew this possibility existed. Fallon sucks and Conan is having trouble and, if that continues, I say just go back to the way things were. They should've never attempted to change it in the first place. If it ain't broke don't fix it. I know Leno wanted out at first but they could've stopped this.

Having said that, I'm enjoying Conan and hope things do work out. I think he will have at least 6-12 months. It does take time but, after that, if things don't play right for all involved, I think we will see everything go back to how it was.

As for Letterman, can't stand him. Never been able to. I like Ferguson though.
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King
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42% drop is a big drop though...

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Miss Rhi
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King
Jun 11 2009, 11:43 AM
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love Dave. I think he is so underrated. I adore him.
I've always loved Dave too...... :wub2:

I've always liked Conan too but I agree that the guests that have been booked lately haven't done him any favors. It kinda shocked me that his first guest was Will Farrell, I'm not a big fan of his so maybe that's why I'm biased. I think Conan will find his groove eventually it may take awhile though, at least he has the Summer to work out the kinks before the sweeps begin.
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PhoenixRising05
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King
Jun 11 2009, 12:50 PM
42% drop is a big drop though...

Not when you consider the numbers were going to be higher to start out since it's a premiere. There was always going to be a steady dropoff. There was no way he was going to maintain those numbers, especially when you consider he is essentially new to most fans since he was at 12:30 for so many years. No current late night show even comes close to the numbers Conan was having last week unless they have some big name guests like Leno when he had Obama or something. It takes awhile to build an audience, especially since people have to get used to his style. I think it was expected that he would have to go through this and battler Letterman for awhile.

I think it will be more important to see where the show is at the end of, say, October, when Leno is back and it's been a long enough period to determine if Conan has stuck a chord with the audience. He has his fans but the key is swaying the Leno fans and older fans. If he can't do that, then I think we will see a return to the way things were by next summer. Rhi makes a good point. It's a good thing he premiered in summer so he can work out the kinks. It also allows him to attract a larger younger audience, which is something he is good at anyway since young people were the ones who tended to watch him at 12:30. I think NBC is all for that anyway. They want the young viewers so if Conan's doing good in demos with a young audience (which I expect he is, especially since it's summer), then that should buy him some time too so I think they will give him some leeway to get the traditional Tonight Show fans and the older fans.

Edited by PhoenixRising05, Jun 11 2009, 01:06 PM.
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Shylock


I would figure that Conan would need some time (ie. not a week or two) for his audience to get used to him and latch onto the show. And hopefully he can churn out some bits that get some buzz as well. Fallon sucks, Leno was lame and it was stupid of NBC to cut the third hour of prime time in favor of a show that wouldn't get anywhere near the numbers something like ER or SVU would get.
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Rick
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IMissAremid
Jun 11 2009, 10:21 AM
The Tonight Show is in "freefall" when David Letterman "squeaked past" Conan in the ratings?
Not just becase Letterman beat him but because the show has fallen every night since the premiere. Of course most shows see a drop off on the second airing but usually rebound after a few days and Conan hasn't been able to do that yet.

Premiere: 7.1/17
Tues: 5.3/11
Wed: 4.4/11
Thur: 3.8/9
Fri: 3.5/8
Mon: 3.1/8
Tue: 2.9/7
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Rick
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NBC has got to be very nervous right now. Tonight has been the #1 late night show for decades and if these numbers continue they are going to lose their position.
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Rick
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And the bleeding stops.


After seven nights of drops, NBC's "Tonight" may have found its bottom. The talk show rebounded 10% from Monday's performance, climbing to a 3.2 last night in the household ratings.

That was enough to edge out David Letterman's "Late Show," which had bested O'Brien's "Tonight" in the overnights for the first time Tuesday evening. Letterman pulled a 3.1 rating, dropping slightly from the previous night.

Letterman's lower number comes after headline-making jokes about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter. On Wednesday's show, Letterman gave a lengthy explanation/apology for his comments, and invited Palin onto his program. O'Brien welcomed Dane Cook as guest; Letterman had Kathy Griffin and Stupid Human Tricks.

Though overnight household ratings (which measure approximate overall viewership) have grown tighter between the two programs since O'Brien took over "The Tonight Show," newly released adult demo numbers portray last week's competition as an NBC blowout.

The advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 ratings give O'Brien a 2.3 average rating last week -- the highest-rated week for "Tonight" in more than four years and a 156% margin over CBS' "Late Show."

Even excluding the high-rated Monday premiere, "Tonight" held an 111% advantage over "Late Show," marking the best percentage advantage over the CBS program in more than 10 years. Even on their closest night, Friday, O'Brien received a 1.5 rating to Letterman's 0.8.

The numbers helped push “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” to its highest weeklong demo rating yet (1.0), with a 67% margin over CBS’s “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson." Also, "Last Call with Carson Daly" delivered its biggest rating (0.6) since 2007.

NBC issued a press release declaring O'Brien "The New King of Late Night."

“This is beyond our wildest expectations,” said Rick Ludwin, executive vp, late night and primetime series, NBC Entertainment. “Conan has brought new younger viewers to 11:35 pm and we're gratified that the demographic trend has continued here in week two, where the early numbers continue to show dominant victories, in all the key categories, for ‘The Tonight Show’.”

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IMissAremid
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After all... tomorrow is another day!

LOL. That demos article only makes the original "freefall" article even more ridiculous.
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King
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What kind of ratings was Jay getting?
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PhoenixRising05
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King
Jun 12 2009, 02:05 AM
What kind of ratings was Jay getting?
I think he was getting between a 3.0-3.5. It's going to take Conan awhile though and him doing well with younger fans is no shock. The fact he is doing well in some of the adult demos is a surprise as it is early on in his run.

It's going to be up and down for awhile. He just needs to find his groove and to get some decent guests. His numbers so far really aren't that bad. They are better then I expected.
Edited by PhoenixRising05, Jun 12 2009, 02:15 AM.
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Rick
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Dreamlander

Season to date

VIEWERS
Leno 5.2 million viewers
Letterman 3.9 million viewers

HOUSEHOLDS
Leno 3.8/10
Letterman 3.1/7

18-49
Leno 1.4/6
Letterman 1.1/4



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Rick
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Dreamlander

Week of June 1-5
ADULTS 18-49
Tonight 2.3/10
Late Night 1.0/6
Late Show 0.9/4
Last Call 0.6/4
Late Late Show 0.6/3
Kimmel 0.4/2

TOTAL VIEWERS
Tonight 6.1 million
Late Show 3.5 million
Late Night 2.4 million
Late Late Show 1.8 million
Last Call 1.4 million
Kimmel 1.3 million
Edited by Rick, Jun 12 2009, 02:36 AM.
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PhoenixRising05
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Thanks for those, Rick. I was close on Leno LOL.

Conan's numbers are pretty good, especially when you consider he just started and is basically new to most of his audience at 11:30 and when you consider this is late night.

I'm stunned Fallon gets that much of an audience. Wow...LOL.
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Rick
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Dreamlander

Conan is killing in 18-49
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