Late Shifts: 'Daily Show' Trumps 'Leno,' 'Letterman'

Jon-Stewart

The late-night talk wars really hasn't been about Letterman, Leno or O'Brien in 2011 -- think Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

For the month of May -- helped a lot by big news stories -- "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" topped all late-night shows -- broadcast and cable -- with 1.344 million 18-49 viewers. "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" had 1.340 million among 18-49 viewers, while CBS' "The Late Show with David Letterman" was next at 1.12 million.

Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," with 978,000, was in fourth place. NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" was next at 848,000; ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" followed at 735,000; "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" was at 725,000; "Conan" had 701,000; E! "Chelsea Lately" took in 672,000; TBS' "Lopez Tonight" was at 295,000; and BET's "The Mo'Nique Show" had 249,000.

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Comedy Central also notes that since the beginning of the year, "The Daily Show" has been closing in on "Tonight Show" among key 18-49 viewers, now averaging just 1.25 million 18-49 viewers for "Daily Show" versus "Tonight Show" at 1.27 million.

Brad Adgate, senior vice president and corporate media director for Horizon Media, says both "The Daily Show" and "Colbert" benefit heavily from their satirical efforts lampooning major news events, including the death of Osama Bin Laden.

Concerning just cable competitors, Horizon Media's Adgate says "Daily Show" and "Colbert" have been easily besting the likes of TBS' new "Conan" show since around January in many younger-skewing and other demos.

"Daily Show" still trails way behind Leno and Letterman when it comes to overall viewers. For the last week in May, "The Tonight Show" scored 4.0 million viewers; "Late Show" had 3.5 million viewers; with "Daily Show" and several others, "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" and "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" were at 1.8 million viewers.

For the entire month of May, however, "Daily Show" has been making gains -- up 19% versus May 2010 to an average 2.3 million total viewers. Its May 2011 ratings versus May 2010 18-49 ratings are up 21% and its younger 18-34 numbers are 22% higher.

Among cable talk shows, "Daily Show" at 2.3 million for May still leads all comers. "The Colbert Report" is at 1,562,000; "Conan" at 975,000; "Chelsea Lately" at 942,000; "The Mo'Nique Show" at 497,000, and "Lopez Tonight" is at 451,000.

But Adgate notes that when including all late-night cable programming, Turner Broadcasting's Adult Swim block continues to be a big leader among cable series.

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