David Letterman‘s retirement announcement episode on Thursday earned the “Late Show” its top local rating since October 2012.
It also provided a strong victory for the CBS late-night talk show over the competition. Letterman scored a 3.2 rating/8 share according to the preliminary overnight metric, while “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” each received a 2.4/6.
See video: 7 of David Letterman’s Most Popular ‘Top Ten’ Lists on YouTube
Crunching the numbers, Dave’s rating was 33 percent higher than his younger peers. Johnny Depp was Letterman’s guest on Thursday.
Fallon’s number represents a low to-date, though “The Tonight Show” is still top dog for the season. The night also marked the first time that Kimmel has matched Fallon’s numbers.
CBS also topped primetime on Thursday.
