TV By The Numbers reports the Late Show “posted its largest audience since the week ending April 8, 2011, and its best adults 18-49 rating since the week ending Feb. 4, 2011, according to Nielsen live plus same day ratings for the week ending Nov. 18, 2011″.

They also say the Late Show “delivered 3.580m viewers, up +9% in viewers (from 3.30m), compared to the same week last year… up +18% in adults 25-54 (1.3/05 from 1.1/05) and +25% in adults 18-49 (1.0/04 from 0.8/03), compared to the same week last year”.

The Late Late Show “delivered a 1.3/04 in households with 1.71m viewers, up +3% in viewers (from 1.67m) compared to the same week last year… up +17% in adults 25-54 (0.7/04 from 0.6/04), and +20% in adults 18-49 (0.6/03 from 0.5/03), compared to the same week last year”.

TV By The Numbers – “‘Late Show with David Letterman’ delivers…”

Omaha World-Herald reports; “The shows have become the late-night choice for viewers with an average age of 32 — a coveted demographic for most advertisers. It’s not even a close race with the major network late-night shows. The average age of a Jay Leno or David Letterman viewer is 56. Jimmy Kimmel — the youngest of the five major late-night talk show hosts at 43 — attracts an audience that averages 51 years old”.

Speaking of George Lopez’s talk show, Lopez Tonight, Omaha World-Herald say; ” It bumped his show to 11 p.m. But the later slot is a better fit for his party feel, and Lopez thinks the teaming should have some longevity. The change also allowed him to make his show even edgier”.

Omaha World-Herald – “Duo of Conan, Lopez bringing younger viewers to TBS”

The first ever episode averaged 4.2 million viewers for the 11pm telecast (quite a feat for a basic cable channel). TV By The Numbers reports “2,451,000 adults 18-34; 3,285,000 adults 18-49; and 4,155,000 viewers” watched the opening show on Monday night. Conan came out top – compare Conan’s 4.2 million viewers with The Tonight Show With Jay Leno’s 3.5 million viewers and the Late Show With David Letterman’s 3.4 million viewers.

The show started with a cold open (fact fans – all of Conan’s talk show debuts have started with a cold open – i.e. Late Night With Conan O’Brien and The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien), which poked fun at him being forced out by NBC and being left jobless having to support his family, and his apparent rise to success again when he discovered he could be on a basic cable channel instead of network TV. Larry King even makes a surprise appearance as Conan’s guardian angel:

The show format is quite similar to The Tonight Show and Late Night, but as TBS is a basic cable channel it will mean he’ll be able to do more things and not be constrained by strict network TV rules. I really like the new set – the view out to sea with the moon that Conan was moving by remote control. There’s also no barrier between the audience and the stage, which makes the audience feel closer to Conan, Andy and the guests (interesting to note Conan went and shook hands with some of the audience members – something Leno is well known for).

The opening monologue in the first show was strong, I thought. He paid particular attention on NBC saying he named his new TBS show ‘Conan’ so he couldn’t be so easily replaced, and that this talk show debut was his second premiere of the year (pointing out his short tenure on The Tonight Show before the return of the chin). He also tried to summarise all of the news that’s happened since he’s been off-air in one joke:

The old Late Night / Tonight Show band is back but this time they’re known as Jimmy Vivino And The Basic Cable Band. Max Weinberg doesn’t feature in the band this time (as decision made mostly because of Max’s recent health problems). Andy Richter has returned as Conan’s show announcer and sidekick like he was on The Tonight Show and during the earlier period of Conan’s tenure on Late Night.

Popular character the Masturbating Bear made an appearance in a taped segment – he’s got himself a new job. Also, Conan wonders whether NBC owns the intellectual property rights to these old characters from his old NBC shows (a popular subject Letterman pointed out when he left NBC’s Late Night programme to go to CBS):

Ricky Gervais also sent a good luck message to Conan (or so Conan thought):

The first guest on the show was Arlene Wagner (the curator of the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum) who won a fan vote on the Team Coco website (Conan joked it’s a “rigged” vote). The main guests on the first show were comedy actor Seth Rogen (technically the first guest interviewed on the programme if you don’t count Arlene Wagner’s walk-on beforehand), actress Lea Michele (from the popular show Glee) and musician Jack White. Seth Rogen revealed his engagement to his girlfriend exclusively on the programme. The song Conan performed with Jack White (from an album they recording together during the live theatre tour) was fantastic.

If you live in Ireland you can watch ‘Conan’ on a one week delay from the US starting next week at midnight on 3e.

TV By The Numbers – “‘Conan’ Premiere Averages 4.2 Million…”
HitFix.com – “‘Conan’ premiere audience tops Jay Leno, David Letterman”

Scott Collins of the Los Angeles Times says “Letterman averaged 3.8 million total viewers, compared with 3.6 million for Leno, according to figures published Thursday by the Nielsen Co.” and that “in adults aged 18 to 49… Letterman averaged a 1.0 rating/4 share, compared with a 0.9 rating/4 share for Leno”.

Conan’s return to TV this coming week could throw in some further interesting changes in viewership numbers – watch this space.

Los Angeles Times – “David Letterman sweeps ratings for first time since Jay Leno’s return in March”

Variety reports “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno won the 11:30 hour in the 18-49 demo and total audience, but auds dropped from 5 million in 2009 to 4 million total viewers, which is the lowest since 1992. A major reason for the decline was large viewership a year ago for a highly publicized Tonight Show episodes, including Leno’s final night, Conan O’Brien’s first night and an interview with President Obama”.

Fox News reports “Apparently Leno is not only getting equal-to-fewer viewers than the freakishly tall redhead, his show costs NBC $10-15 million more a year than O’Brien’s show did… Leno’s higher salary — $30 million per year, compared to O’Brien’s $15 million — plus the cost of his bigger production staff could even be pushing the show into the red, according to insiders”.

Variety – “‘Kimmel,’ ‘Nightline’ show demo increase”
Fox News – “Jay Leno’s Ratings Dip Below Conan O’Brien’s on ‘Tonight Show’”
MediaPost – “Conan Beats Leno In Late-Night Ratings”

The first show on Monday 1st March gained a huge amount of viewers for NBC who have been struggling of late – not just in late night but across the board. He said “It’s good to be home. I’m Jay Leno, your host… at least for a while… I’ll admit I’m a little bit nervous, not because it’s my first night back, but because I know Dave [Letterman] and Oprah [Winfrey] are watching”.

However, since that first show The Tonight Show has been falling behind and the Late Show With David Letterman is now leading the ratings war.

TV By The Numbers report ““The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” (3.2/8 in metered-market households) trailed CBS’s “Late Show with David Letterman” (3.5/9) while topping ABC’s “Nightline (2.7/) and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (1.3/4) in Nielsen’s 56 metered markets” and “◦In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” (1.1/5) ranked #1 among the major networks in the time period over “Late Show” (1.0/5), “Nightline” (1.1/4) and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (0.9/4)”.

However, certain guests like Sarah Palin have helped boost ratings for certain shows.

Will The Tonight Show With Jay Leno stand the test of time? I guess we’ll wait and see.

Digital Spy – “Leno: ‘It’s good to be back on Tonight’”
Examiner – “TV Ratings News: Leno’s ‘Tonight Show’ now trailing Letterman…”
TV By The Numbers – “Early Tuesday Results Indicate Split Decision…”

Entertainment Weekly reports it “earned a whopping 7.0 rating/16 share in 55 of the country’s metered markets (the most immediate numbers available). Ratings for his fellow latenight hosts didn’t even come close: The Late Show with David Letterman averaged a mere 2.5/5, while Nightline earned a 2.8/6, and Jimmy Kimmel Live, a 1.3/4. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, however, was able to draft off of O’Brien’s success: his show averaged a respectible 3.3/10, easily beating Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (1.5/4)”.

If only those ratings were a regular thing and he might still be at NBC.

Entertainment Weekly (EW.com) – “Conan O’Brien’s farewell attracts big ratings”

CBS Press Express – “Dave’s Winning Streak Hits 10″
TV By The Numbers – “David Letterman’s Winning Streak Hits 10 weeks”

The Associated Press reporter Frazier Moore said “the biggest difference between Leno’s new show and his old one: With his fade-out at 11pm, the local news began”, and The Los Angeles Times said it was “a strange, shallow puddle of comedy”.

The first show did have it’s viewer draws – including Kanye West’s appearance to explain what happened at the MTV VMAs (the infamous moment when he interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech) and to apologise for what he did.

In addition to Kanye West’s appearance, Jerry Seinfeld was interviewed and music came from Jay-Z and Rihanna (with Kanye performing with them).

The official website for The Jay Leno Show has now fully launched – it includes video clips (US only), full episode streaming (US only), photos, exclusives, message boards, etc.

If you saw the show, please let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment on this post.

The Associated Press – “Leno show reaches 17.7 million viewers”
The Los Angeles Times – “‘Jay Leno Show’ stays on familiar ground”

NY Daily News notes this “marks Letterman’s longest ratings win streak since 1995″ and overall “Letterman had 3.38 million viewers to O’Brien’s 2.63 million” in the latest week to be announced in these new figures. The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien does still hold the lead for the 18-to-49 year old bracket though.

NY Daily News – “Inner tube: David Letterman beats Conan O’Brien for fourth week”