"Tonight Show" slipped to a Nielsen Media Research 1.3 rating/6 share among 18-49 viewers for the week ending June 19, from a 1.5/6 the week before. That amounts to 1.763 million 18-49 viewers from 2.0 million the week before.
"Late Show" also lost a bit -- down to a 0.8/3 (1.058 million viewers from a 0.9/3 (1.126 million).
But the big news is that "Late Show" beat "Tonight Show" in overall viewers this time around -- 3.5 million to 3.3 million, partly as a result of the attention surrounding the Sarah Palin/Letterman controversy. (ABC's "Nightline had 3.0 million viewers.) The week before, O'Brien had 3.8 million to Letterman's 3.7 million.
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Season-to-date numbers still have "The Tonight Show" firmly ahead in total viewers -- 4.6 million viewers to 3.8 million for "Late Show" and "Nightline."
TV advertisers deem specific demographics much more important in their buying decisions than overall viewers. In that regard, 18-49 viewers and 18-34 viewers are important measures for late-night programming.
For younger adults 18-34, Conan again won the week by a big margin -- 930,000 viewers versus Letterman's 352,000. Both shows were down a bit from the week before: O'Brien at 1.040 million, and Letterman with 376,000.
Looking at season-to-date 18-49 numbers, O'Brien has a healthy lead with a 1.8/8, with CBS "Late Show" at 1.0/4 and ABC "Nightline" earning 1.1/4. ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" is posting a 0.6/3, which starts at 12:05 a.m.
In the other new late-night battle, NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" has a season-to-date average of 0.8/5 among 18-49 viewers to CBS' "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," which has a 0.6/3.