As the Only Broadcast Net to Build Week to Week in Both Viewers and Key Adults, ABC Wins the Week in Late-Night in Adults 18-49.
ABC News’ “Nightline” is No. 1 Among Total Viewers, Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54 for the Week.
“Nightline” is No. 1 Among Adults 18-49 for 11th Time This Season, the Greatest Number of Weeks at No. 1 During the Course of a Season.
ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Delivers the Largest Year-to-Year Increases in Adults 18-49 of Any Broadcast Program in Late-Night.
With Guests Owen Wilson, Kelly Ripa and Adele, “JKL’s” Thursday Telecast Draws the Program’s Largest Young Adult Audience on the Night Since June.
“JKL” Tops CBS’ “Ferguson” in Adults 18-49 for the 8th Time in 9 Weeks This Season.
ABC Late-Night (Monday – Friday)
During the President’s Day holiday week, ABC saw increases in late-night over the previous week (w/o 2/14/11) of 10% in Total Viewers (2.30 million vs. 2.09 million), 15% in Adults 18-49 (897,000 vs. 782,000) and 12% in Adults 25-54 (1.13 million vs. 1.01 million). In fact, ABC stood as the only broadcast network to build over the prior week in late-night in all three measures.
ABC was up by 17% over the same week last year (w/o 2/22/10) in Total Viewers (2.30 million vs. 1.97 million), by 17% in Adults 25-54 (897,000 vs. 766,000) and by 22% in Adults 25-54 (1.13 million vs. 927,000), scoring its 4th straight week of year-to-year increases in late night in viewers.
ABC posted a first-place finish in late-night in Adults 18-49 (897,000), beating CBS by 6% (846,000) and NBC by 3% (873,000)
“Nightline” (Monday – Friday)
During the week of February 21, ABC News’ “Nightline” ranked No. 1 in the final complete week of the February 2011 sweep in Total Viewers (3.75 million), Adults 25-54 (1.64 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.25 million), according to Nielsen Media Research. In fact, “Nightline” ranked No. 1 in Adults 18-49 for the 11th time during the season. This represents the greatest number of weeks at No. 1 in Adults 18-49 during the course of a season, beating both “The Tonight Show” and “The Late Show.”
Season to date, “Nightline” ranks in first place among Total Viewers and Adults 25-54. This is the first time that “Nightline” has been in first place at this point in the season since at least the 1993-94 season, when “Letterman” began on CBS. In addition, “Nightline” is up by +3% in Adults 25-54 season to date compared to the same point last year.
“Nightline” saw increases over the previous week and the year-ago week in Total Viewers (+5% and +15%, respectively), Adults 25-54 (+8% and +15%, respectively) and Adults 18-49 (+11% and +8%, respectively)
*Note: Due to the Presidents’ Day Holiday, ABC’s, CBS’ and NBC’s Monday telecasts were coded as specials and excluded from the weekly average.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live” (Monday – Friday)
During the President’s Day holiday week, ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” saw week-to-week increases in both Total Viewers (+6% – 1.67 million vs. 1.57 million) and Adults 18-49 (+12% – 743,000 vs. 661,000). In addition, “JKL” was up in both viewers (+14% – 1.67 million vs. 1.46 million) and young adults (+22% – 743,000 vs. 608,000) over the same week last year (w/o 2/22/10), building its overall audience over the year-ago week for the 2nd week in a row. Impressively, “JKL” posted the largest yearly increase of any late-night broadcast program in the key young adult demo.
“JKL’s” Thursday telecast (2/24/11), which featured guests Owen Wilson, Kelly Ripa and Adele, drew the ABC late-night program’s 2nd-largest young adult audience on the evening in over 8 months (904,000) – since 6/17/10. On that evening, “JKL” topped NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” by a solid 24% in Adults 18-49 (728,000) and beat CBS’ “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” by 20% (756,000). Further, “Kimmel” drew 16% more overall viewers (1.88 million) than NBC’s “Fallon” (1.62 million) and 3% more than CBS’ “Ferguson” (1.83 million).
During the week of February 21, ABC’s “JKL” beat CBS’ “Ferguson” by 14% in Adults 18-49 (743,000 vs. 650,000), besting the CBS late-night program for the 8th time in the last 9 weeks in the key young adult demo.
*Note: Due to the Presidents’ Day Holiday, “JKL’s” Monday telecast was coded as a special and excluded from the weekly average.
Late-Night Rank:
TOTAL VIEWERS A18-49(000) A25-54(000)
ABC 2,300,000 897,000 1,130,000
CBS 2,550,000 846,000 1,160,000
NBC 2,280,000 873,000 1,050,000
(Source: ABC – The Nielsen Company, Live + Same Day National Program Ratings for week of 2/21/11, or as dated. Comparisons based on 000s. ABC Late-Night = “Nightline” and “JKL”; CBS Late-Night = “Letterman” and “Ferguson”; NBC Late-Night = “Tonight Show,” “Fallon” and “Carson Daly.”)
