NBC’s “Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon” put some ratings distance between itself and its new CBS competitor, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
“Fallon” topped “Colbert” by 41% for the week of Sept. 28-Oct. 2 in the key 18-49 demo, with NBC announcing that it was Fallon’s biggest margin of victory to date over Colbert, who debuted Sept. 8.
Fallon averaged a 1.03 rating for the week in the demo, to a 0.73 for Colbert. Their ABC competition, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” trailed with a 0.55.
Fallon’s show also led total viewers, averaging 3.728 million to 3.122 million for Colbert and 2.334 million for Kimmel.
In the clash between the CBS and NBC lead-outs at 12:35 a.m., NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers” topped CBS’s “Late Late Show with James Corden,” with Meyers delivering a 0.55 average rating in 18-49 — equaling Kimmel’s number in the earlier time slot — to a 0.39 for Corden. Meyers averaged 1.795 million total viewers to 1.441 million for Corden.
ABC’s half-hour 12:35 a.m. entry “Nightline” pulled a 0.37 average in 18-49 with 1.531 million total viewers.
The figures are based on Nielsen Media Research “live plus same day” data.
Too much Colbert, not enough 11:30 Show rapport! Jimmy Fallon is doing a true 11:30 Show, Colbert isn’t and the numbers prove it! When he left Comedy Central he said the character he was portraying was dead. But, later revised that saying much of his true self was in the character which is what we see nightly on CBS. Enough already! You did that for 9 years. We’ve seen that act and now we see it on CBS and it still looks and sounds basic cable just with a band. It’s not enough to get big numbers with. I mean the theater reno. is nice, but no one watches a show to see a theater. Where’s the bits? Laying on the Grass and Looking at the Stars??? Come on! That’s not even community access cable! Where’s the interaction with the Jon & the band, the announcer to bounce off, other characters? Where are all the things our brain on Late Night TV expects? The “Holy Crap did you see Colbert last night?!!…” that makes us stay up past bed time? It’s not there. Colbert’s just doing a slightly different version of cable while network and network numbers demand more. Viewers (even youngs) expect the 11:30 kind of show and when it’s not delivered they switch to what they know and want! Heck, Jay Leno tagged in for Jimmy the other night for 4 and a half minutes and that was better than most all of what Colbert has done so far! It’s big time Stevie, start acting like it!