ABC TO AIR INTERVIEW WITH GINGRICH’S EX-WIFE

Once again raising the question of how far a news organization should go in revealing the personal foibles of a presidential candidate, ABC is planning to broadcast an interview with one of the ex-wives of Newt Gingrich tonight (Thursday), just two days before the South Carolina primary. Various reports had indicated that ABC executives had [...]

LENO AND LETTERMAN TAKE BIG RATINGS HITS

It was not an auspicious start-of-the-season week for either Jay Leno or David Letterman. With DVR use way up and more and more viewers watching shows via cable’s on-demand technology or via Netflix, Hulu and other streaming services, or catching hipper, less restricted hosts on cable, like Jon Stewart and Conan O’Brien, the two late-night [...]

ABC’S NIGHTLINE BEATS RIVALS IN ALL CATEGORIES

It was a week when both The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with David Letterman were both airing reruns — allowing ABC’s Nightline to take over as the late-night ratings champ. The network said Thursday that Nightline ranked No. 1 among total viewers, adults 25-54 and adults 18-49. “This is the first [...]

LATE-NIGHT TV SHOWS CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE

The demise of George Lopez’s late night show has underlined the obstacles that late-night programs in general continue to face from increasing competition and from viewers watching programs that they recorded earlier in the evening on their DVRs. Today’s (Friday) New York Times observed that the first half hour of NBC’s Tonight show averaged 3.6 [...]

ABC’S NIGHTLINE BEATS TONIGHT, LATE NIGHT FOR 13TH WEEK

ABC once again boasted that with Nightline it had the biggest late-night audience last week in total viewers and those 18-49. It also claimed it ranked #1 in total viewers for the 13th week in a row. Moreover, it noted, “This is the first time ever that Nightline has been in first place at this [...]

LATE-NIGHT VICTORIES FOR EVERYONE

Each of the major late-night shows on broadcast television has found something in the latest ratings to boast about. ABC’s Nightline trumpeted the news that it was No. 1 among total views, adults 18-49, and adults 25-54. However, analysts point out that Nightline‘s ratings are based on viewership during the 11:30 p.m. to midnight half-hour, [...]

KIMMEL GETS NEW TIMESLOT; NIGHTLINE TO GO PRIMETIME

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel is getting an earlier timeslot — five minutes earlier, to be precise. Beginning February 4, his show will begin precisely at midnight instead of at 12:05 a.m. The move will shorten the nightly ABC News magazine Nightline by five minutes. However, in an email message to ABC staffers, ABC News President Ben [...]

NBC’S HIGHER PRIMETIME RATINGS AFFECT LATE-NIGHT, TOO

With NBC attracting its best primetime ratings results this season among the key 18-49 demo in the 10:00 p.m. hour last week, NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno was able to take advantage of the lead-ins to widened its lead against its late-night competitors. As reported by Daily Variety, Tonight averaged 1.35 million 18-49-year-old [...]

CHILEAN RESCUE RESCUES CNN

International coverage of the rescue of the Chilean miners attracted tens of millions of viewers worldwide on Tuesday and Wednesday. On broadcast television in the U.S., ABC’s late-night Nightline coverage averaged 5.04 million viewers. For CNN, its coverage demonstrated again that it can attract a substantial audience by focusing on actual news and not the [...]

TONIGHT‘S RATING DROP TO HISTORIC LOW

Ratings for The Tonight Show over the summer have fallen to their lowest level in history, published reports observed today (Friday), citing Nielsen figures. Among 18-49 year olds, they’re 23 percent lower than they were last year when Conan O’Brien hosted the show (although they’re up 12 percent among total viewers). Nevertheless, the Jay Leno-hosted [...]

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