• by Wayne Friedman , June 5, 2014

Nearly four months since he hit the late-night ground in a big way, “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” still maintains a hefty lead over the competition.

The show’s season average since February 17, when Fallon took over hosting the show from Jay Leno, puts him at 4.23 million overall viewers -- 1.5 million more than his nearest competitor CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman,” which sits at 2.71 million. ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” comes in at 2.64 million.

These shows run between 11:35 p.m. and 12:35 p.m.

NBC also maintains its strong position in its later late-night show -- “Late Night with Seth Meyers” from 12:35 p.m. to 1:35 p.m. It has been averaging 1.76 million overall viewers with “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" at 1.36 million overall viewers. ABC’s half-hour “Nightline” at 12:35 p.m. is at 1.6 million.

Even with reruns, “Fallon” has maintained his lead -- albeit not as strong as with originals. For the week ending May 30, “Tonight” earned 3.13 million overall viewers to  2.25 million for "Kimmel" and 2.2 million for "Late Show."

For that recent week, ABC’s “Nightline” is at 1.47 million overall viewers, with NBC’s “Late Night” at 1.4 million and CBS’ “Late Late Show” with 1.23 million.

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