As viewers get more accustomed to the new looks of NBC’s “The Tonight Show” and “Late Night,” it will be interesting to see where ratings stabilize.
Realistically, it is far too early to predict when and where those ratings will ultimately settle. But as far as short-term performance goes, both demonstrated consistency Wednesday.
“The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” which took a hit after losing the Winter Olympics lead-in this week, delivered a 4.2 overnight household rating Wednesday. Up from the 4.0 posted by Tuesday’s telecast, the number almost topped the combined rating for CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman” (2.2) and ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (2.1).
“Late Night with Seth Meyers,” which aired its third episode Wednesday, nearly matched Tuesday’s performance. After posting a 2.1 overnight household rating for episode two, it managed a 2.0 for episode three.
In the top 25 markets with local people meters, “Fallon” drew a 1.7 to defeat the 0.5 for “Letterman” and 0.6 for “Kimmel.” “Meyers,” meanwhile, scored a 0.9, which outranked the combined total for ABC’s “Nightline” (0.3 for the competitive first half-hour) and CBS’ “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” (0.3).