Following the Olympics was a smart move for NBC as The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon reached well over eleven million viewers for Fallon’s premiere as host, Monday night. That was also almost five million more viewers than watched him conclude his run on Late Night.
One thing is for sure, Fallon’s numbers weren’t hurt by the parade of well-wishers (ostensibly losers of a bet he’d never get The Tonight Show to New York) that included Robert DeNiro (above). For more details, check out the press release after the jump.
‘THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON’ DEBUTS WITH STRONG AUDIENCE SAMPLING, AVERAGING 11.3 MILLION VIEWERS
Fallon is Up 71% Versus His Feb. 7 ‘Late Night’ Finale, Which Also Aired Near Midnight Following Primetime Olympic Coverage
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — Feb. 18, 2014 — The debut of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” has generated strong sampling at a special midnight start time following late local news and NBC’s coverage of the Sochi Winter Olympics. Fallon’s “Tonight” debut last night averaged a 3.8 rating in adults 18-49 and 11.314 million viewers overall, according to fast-official “live plus same day” ratings from Nielsen Media Research, making these the top results to date for a Fallon-hosted late-night talk-show hour.
The 11.314 million is up 71% or 4.7 million persons versus the 6.601 million for the Friday, Feb. 7 finale of “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” which aired at 12:05 a.m. ET following primetime Olympics coverage) and was Fallon’s previous high for a late-night talk-show hour.
The 11.314 million is also the second-biggest audience for “Tonight” since May 29, 2009 (11.901 million, for Leno’s last telecast before Conan O’Brien took over as host), trailing over that span only the Thursday, Feb. 6 finale of “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” (14.637 million for an 11:35 p.m. ET telecast that also followed primetime Olympics coverage).
Monday’s Fallon debut on “Tonight” delivered more viewers than all but two of last week’s primetime non-Olympic programs on ABC, CBS and Fox (for the week of Feb. 10-16, behind only CBS’s Thursday encore of “The Big Bang Theory,” 11.8 million; and Fox’s Wednesday “American Idol,” 11.7 million).
In adults 18-49, last night’s 3.8 rating ties the Feb. 6 Leno finale as the top “Tonight” since Friday, Jan. 22, 2010 (4.4 for Conan O’Brien’s final “Tonight Show”) and is the highest-rated Monday telecast of “Tonight” since Jan. 24, 2005 (tribute to Johnny Carson, 4.8). Versus Fallon’s Feb. 7 “Late Night” finale, Monday’s “Tonight” debut is up 73% (3.8 vs. 2.2)
The 3.8 rating ranks ahead of every primetime non-Olympic program on ABC, CBS and Fox last week, Feb. 10-16, 12% ahead of the week’s highest primetime non-Olympic rating on those networks, 3.4 for Wednesday’s “American Idol.”
Versus season-to-date averages through Feb. 9, Monday’s ‘Tonight’ telecast is up +182% in total viewers (11.314 million vs. 4.011 million).
Results from 11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET last night were: “Late Show with David Letterman,” 0.5 rating in adults 18-49, 2.411 million viewers overall; and “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” 0.4 in 18-49, 2.106 million viewers overall.
The top 10 highest-rated local markets for last night’s “Tonight” debut were: Denver, St. Louis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Chicago, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle-Tacoma, Houston and Orlando-Daytona Beach.
The Feb. 17 “Tonight” telecast featured Will Smith, musical guest U2 and numerous additional guest appearances. Tuesday’s show is scheduled to feature Jerry Seinfeld, Kristen Wiig and Lady Gaga.
Photo by Lloyd Bishop/Courtesy NBC