Jay Leno's return scores lower ratings than Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show debut
Jay Leno's back, and it's like he never left.
NBC's Tonight Show returned Monday evening to a rating that exceeded Leno's comparable Tonight average, yet underperformed Conan O'Brien's Tonight debut last June.
In preliminary returns, Tonight drew a 5.4 metered market household rating and a 2.0 adults 18-49. That's up 32% compared to Leno's first quarter average as Tonight host from 2009. Versus Conan O'Brien's fourth quarter average of 2.0, Leno was up 170% (this doesn't include O'Brien's January show-concluding rise, though, which would reduce this percentage somewhat).
Compared to recent NBC talk show premieres, Leno's performance was less impressive.
Leno was 24% lower than Conan O'Brien's debut as Tonight host -- and that was just switching timeslots, out of season, and without an Olympic run-up. Leno was also down 55% from his own Jay Leno Show premiere at 10 p.m. last fall.
David Letterman's Late Show was easily beaten last night, drawing a 3.0 household rating. NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon posted a 2.1, nearly double his 1.1 average in the fourth quarter.
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