UPDATE: In updated “fast official” ratings from Nielsen, Monday’s “Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” averaged a 2.1 rating in adults 18-49 and 6.26 million viewers overall — the top “Tonight” scores on a Monday (excluding Olympics nights) since June 2009 and March 2010, respectively. It easily bested CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman” (0.6 rating in adults 18-49, 2.59 million viewers overall) and ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (0.5 in 18-49, 2.44 million).
And at 12:35 a.m., the premiere of “Late Night With Seth Meyers” scored a 1.4 rating in adults 18-49 and 3.42 million total viewers — the top Monday scores for “Late Night” since January 2005. The March 2009 premiere of “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” averaged a 1.3 rating in 18-49 and 2.87 million viewers overall.
Competitively at 12:35 a.m., “Late Night” on Monday easily beat the combined averages of ABC’s half-hour “Nightline” (0.3 in 18-49, 1.31 million total viewers) and the hourlong “Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson” (0.3 in 18-49, 1.24 million).
Popular on Variety
On the heels of its dominant delivery in latenight during the Olympics, NBC picked up where it left off Monday night as “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and the premiere of “Late Night With Seth Meyers” handily won their timeslots and were the night’s top two programs.
“Meyers,” in fact, logged the highest “Late Night” overnight on a Monday since 2005.
SEE ALSO: Review: ‘Late Night with Seth Meyers’ http://variety.com/2014/tv/reviews/tv-review-late-night-with-seth-meyers-1201119083/
In Nielsen’s metered-market overnights, “Tonight” averaged a 4.5 household rating/12 share, followed in the 11:35 p.m. timeslot by CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman” (2.2/6) and ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (2.1/6). While the 4.5 represents a low for “Tonight” under Fallon (it was above a 5 every night during the Olympics), it’s 55% above the program’s non-Olympics average this season (2.9).
“Fast official” Nielsen estimates, including overall viewer estimates, were expected later Tuesday morning.
In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, “Tonight Show” averaged a 2.1/10, roughly doubling the combined tallies of “Kimmel” (0.6/3) and “Late Show” (0.5/2). This is the best “Tonight” score for a non-Olympics Monday since Conan O’Brien’s premiere in June 2009 (3.9).
For ABC, “Jimmy Kimmel Live” was up over the previous Monday to match its top score since Feb. 3. CBS’ “Late Show” was also up a bit from last Monday, which was Fallon’s debut on “Tonight.”
In the 12:35 a.m. hour, “Late Night With Seth Meyers” averaged a 2.6 household rating/9 share in the metered-market overnights — the highest “Late Night” rating on a Monday since the night of a Johnny Carson “Tonight Show” tribute in January 2005 and 63% above its season average (1.6). “Late Night” retained 58% of its “Tonight Show” lead-in.
Fallon premiered to a 2.3 overnight household rating on “Late Night” in its 2009 debut.
The 2.6 topped the combined ratings in the timeslot of ABC’s “Nightline” (1.4/5 for the first half-hour of the time period) and CBS’ “Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson” (1.0/4).
In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, “Late Night With Seth Meyers” averaged a 1.2 rating/8 share in adults 18-49, also the best for “Late Night” since the O’Brien premiere on “Tonight” in 2009. “Nightline” did a 0.4/2 in the demo from 12:35-1:05 a.m., and “Late Late Show” pulled a 0.2/2 from 12:35-1:35 a.m.
Monday’s “Tonight Show” featured Reese Witherspoon, while “Late Night” had Amy Poehler and Vice President Joe Biden.
