• by Wayne Friedman , April 11, 2014

Now with seven weeks on the ratings book -- and with the auger of Stephen Colbert set to be David Letterman’s replacement on CBS’ “Late Show” -- the new Jimmy Fallon hosted “The Tonight Show” continues to dominate late-night TV ratings in the most recent reporting week.

For the week ending April 4, “Tonight” earned a 1.18 rating/5 share among 18-49 viewers -- virtually double the ratings of CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman” (0.63/3) and ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (0.66/3).

The overall viewers race was much closer with “Tonight” at 3.8 million viewers to “Late Show” with 3.2 million; and ABC’s “Kimmel” at 2.6 million. NBC views this as a positive, considering that much of the week's focus was David Letterman announcing his 2015 retirement.

Since Fallon took over on February 17 from Jay Leno, “Tonight” has been averaging almost triple the ratings of both “Late Show” (0.56/7) and “Kimmel” (0.67/3). Total viewers since February 17 have “Tonight” averaging almost double the levels of the other shows -- 5.02 million viewers for “Tonight”; 2.77 million for “Late Show”; and 2.64 million for “Kimmel.”

By way of comparison, Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” earned a 0.59 rating among 18-49 viewers and 1.4 million overall viewers.  

The best non-broadcast late-night talk show continues to be Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” at a 0.66 rating among 18-49 viewers and 1.6 million overall viewers .