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Despite ratings wins, Leno still faces hurdles
3/18/2010 09:28:00 PMReuters – Jay Leno gestures during a panel at the Television Critics Association Cable summer press tour in Pasadena, … Jay Leno Video Link Celebrity Video:Country Music's Johnnie High Dead At 80 CBS 11 Dallas Video Link Celebrity Video:Lindsay Vonn returns to U.S. to new fame AP By James Hibberd James Hibberd – 2 hrs 19 mins agoLOS ANGELES – Can Jay Leno win and lose at the same time? The latest ratings have the "Tonight Show" host winning the late-night battle but struggling to conquer the long-term war. "Tonight Show" led the late-night crop last week among total viewers and the key adult demographic , beating CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman" . Then there's the nagging comparisons with Conan O'Brien and Leno's own performance from last year. For the second and third weeks since his return to late night, Leno is down from comparable dates in 2009, slipping 13 percent in the demographic and 3 percent in total viewers. The concern is that not all of Leno's audience has returned to the show. In addition, this week the median age of Leno's audience is 56 . For the industry to perceive that NBC made the correct choice in keeping Leno, another key hurdle is that the "Tonight" host stay above the ratings O'Brien scored during his tenure as "Tonight" host. But for the past couple weeks, Leno has barely topped O'Brien's average -- 1.2 to O'Brien's 1.1 -- even though O'Brien endured inferior lead-in ratings from the 10 p.m. hour . The gap between hosts is a bit bigger, however, if one uses O'Brien's fourth-quarter rating of 1.0, before his impending exit caused his numbers to climb. The race is much tighter at 12:35, with a tie in the key demo between NBC's "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" and CBS' "The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson" . Search Google for this story. |
