Nightline Beats Conan O'Brien

From MediaLifeMagazine CLICK TO READ MORE
After kicking off with huge numbers last week as host of NBC’s "Tonight Show," Conan O’Brien has seen his ratings slip each night.
More troubling, on Tuesday O’Brien fell to third place behind CBS’s "Late Show with David Letterman" and ABC’s "Nightline.""Letterman" had a 3.4 household rating, up from a 2.9 a year earlier, based on Nielsen metered-market overnight ratings, while "Nightline" pulled a 3.1. O’Brien earned a 2.9.Long the No. 2 competitor to "Tonight Show," "Letterman" almost never ranked No. 1 ahead of "Tonight" when Leno was at the helm.
Tuesday’s ratings partly reflect a decidedly unusual night on television.
NBC aired a thrilling NHL Stanley Cup game that upended the network’s primetime lineup in the western half of the country. Many affiliates aired a mishmash of local shows after the game instead of NBC’s regular programming, which presumably drove away a number of viewers who otherwise might have stayed around for O'Brien.And ABC had an exciting NBA finals game, which pushed back the start times of its late night shows. "Nightline" got the benefit of the ratings spillover from basketball, which probably added a half a point to its ratings. The prior night it drew a 2.6.
But even allowing for those factors, O’Brien and NBC have good reason to be worried based on "Tonight's" steady rating slide.On O'Brien's first night out, "Tonight" generated a lofty 7.1 household rating, well above the average rating Leno had been pulling most nights. Much of that was the result of the heavy promotion NBC put behind O’Brien taking over the show.
On the second night, the show slipped to a 5, then on the third to a 4.3. On the fourth it pulled a 3.8 and the fifth a 3.5. This Monday, it slipped further, to a 3.1, before hitting Tuesday's 2.9
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