Conan O’Brien ended his "Tonight Show" run bigger than when he began.
Final numbers are in, and it turns of O’Brien’s farewell week drew bigger ratings among adults 18-49 than his first week hosting the show back in June. His final broadcast Friday drew more than 10 million viewers overall, also a record for his run.
Coco also gave a boost to Jimmy Fallon, whose 12:35 a.m. show also notched its best-ever numbers.
The spin, straight from NBC:
This was the highest-rated week of "The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien" in adults 18-49, topping the show’s premiere week of June 1-5, 2009 by a tenth of a rating point (2.4 vs. 2.3). In total viewers, last week’s "Tonight" averaged 5.3 million, making this the show’s second-biggest week, behind only its premiere week of June 1-5, 2009 (6.1 million).
Last week’s "Late Night" earned the show’s highest 18-49 rating (1.0) since June 1-5, 2009 and matched its top rating to date. In total viewers, it was the biggest weeklong average for "Late Night" (2.2 million) since that same week of June 1-5 (2.4 million).
On Friday, "The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien" aired its last original telecast and earned a 4.4 rating in adults 18-49 and 10.3 million viewers overall, topping the show’s prior highs in those categories (3.8 in 18-49 and 9.2 million viewers overall for its June 1, 2009 debut). On Friday, "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" delivered a 1.9 rating in 18-49 and 4.0 million viewers overall, generating the show’s top 18-49 and total-viewer results to date.
For the week of January 18-22, Conan’s average 3.111 million adults 18-49 topped the 1.204 million of Letterman; in total viewers, Conan’s audience of 5.290 million persons beat Letterman’s 3.901; and in adults 18-34, Conan’s 1.648 million out-scored Letterman’s 392,000.
At 12:35 a.m. ET, Jimmy Fallon’s 1.348 million adults 18-49 for the week out-delivered Ferguson’s 716,000; in total viewers, Jimmy’s 2.162 million bested Ferguson’s 1.876 million; and in adults 18-34, Jimmy’s 729,000 topped Ferguson’s 274,000.
