'Conan' Premiere Draws Strong Ratings
NEW YORK (
) -- Conan O'Brien's
Conan
premiere drew strong ratings last night, beating out its late-night competition.
The show received a 2.8 rating from Nielsen, which means
Conan
was watched by 2.8% of the U.S. households tracked by Nielsen research.
|
O'Brien's hour-long program airs weeknights at 11 P.M. ET on
Time Warner's
(TWX)
TBS, around the same time as his talk show contenders.
The
Tonight Show with Jay Leno
, which airs on
General Electric's
(GE) - Get Report
NBC at 11:35 P.M., was slightly behind
Conan
with a 2.7 rating, while
CBS'
(CBS) - Get Report
Late Show with David Letterman
received a 2.5 rating.
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
, which airs at 11 P.M. on
Viacom's
(VIA) - Get Report
Comedy Central, earned a 1.5 rating.
In O'Brien's opening monologue he referenced his January exit from NBC.
"Welcome to my second annual first show," O'Brien said. "People asked why I named the show
Conan
. It's so I'd be harder to replace."
He also joked about moving from a network channel to cable. "It's not easy doing a late-night show on a channel without a lot of money and that viewers have trouble finding," he said. "So that's why I left NBC."
His first show featured actor Seth Rogen and
Glee!
actress Lea Michele as guests, Jack White as the musical guest and the new "Basic Cable Band" led by Jimmy Vivino.
In October, Jon Stewart's
The Daily Show
was ranked as the No. 1 late night entertainment talk show among the 18 to 49-year old demographic, according to Nielsen.
Stewart brought in 1.3 million viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, while
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
and the
Late Show with David Letterman
tied with 1.2 million viewers each.
Now with
Conan
in the mix, there will likely be increased competition among the late-night programs, and many television watchers anticipate the November results.
About 83% of the 260 readers that
said they were planning on tuning in to the debut.
Close to 8% of voters said they would watch
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
, while the
Late Show with David Letterman
and
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
tied with about 4% of the votes.
-- Written by Theresa McCabe in Boston.
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