Long gone are the days of a bitter ratings battle between Jay Leno and David Letterman and even the days of a tight race between Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon seem a slightly distant memory.
However, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon has had its best run for younger viewers – those aged 18 to 49 – in a year. The NBC series has been number one or tied with the CBS and ABC show for number one in the demo for the past four weeks – the first time it has reached this point since March 2020.
For the week starting March 15, The Tonight Show and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert were tied with a 0.23 in the demo and Jimmy Kimmel Live! averaged a 0.22. Having said that, Colbert and Kimmel were both in repeats last Friday as Fallon was new.
The week before, the week of March 8, The Tonight Show scored a 0.24 in the demo against Kimmel’s 0.23 and Colbert’s 0.20.
NBC said that The Tonight Show was also leading in the demo for the month of March, 0.24 versus a 0.23 for Kimmel and a 0.22 for Colbert and said season to date Fallon and Colbert are tied in the demo for Monday-Friday.
The ratings figures are good news for 30 Rock and help build a narrative that The Tonight Show is rebounding after a tough four years, where under a Trump Presidency, The Late Show has won the season in viewers for four consecutive years and had its largest victory over The Tonight Show since 1993.
(Excerpt) Read more in: Deadline