Viewers may have noticed the absence of striking writers from late-night comedy shows, but it made little difference in their watching habits, according to some ratings data. For instance, while
Jon Stewart has now changed back the name of his Comedy Central program from "A Daily Show" to "The Daily Show" with the return of his writers, his audience never really drifted away.
Stewart pulled an average 1.6 million viewers in January -- same as last year. And Stephen Colbert's audience of 1.2 million last month was actually up 6% from the 2007 average, according to Nielsen
Media Research. And the status of the duel between David Letterman, who returned with his writers while Jay Leno didn't -- had little impact, either.
"The audience made the decision
of which of the two hosts they wanted to watch," says Rick Ludwin, chief of late-night programming at NBC. "They made the decision 13 years ago." Leno's "Tonight" show has averaged 5.17 million
viewers since his return, up from a pre-strike average of 5 million while Letterman's "Late Show" on CBS rose from 3.8 million pre-strike to 4.05 million after he went back on the air right after the
New Year.
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