"Nightline" Beats Letterman In Q1 Ratings For First Time Since 2003

"Nightline" scored its best first quarter ratings since 2003, averaging 3.86 million total viewers in Q1 2009. This also marks the first time since Q1 2003 that "Nightline" topped David Letterman (3.79 million total viewers) in the first quarter.

"Nightline" ratings are particularly interesting given that the show's future is rumored to be in jeopardy, should ABC move "Jimmy Kimmel Live" to the 11:30 time slot to directly compete when Conan O'Brien takes over "The Tonight Show."

"The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno easily won the late night ratings for the quarter, averaging 5.32 million total viewers.

In the advertiser-friendly Adults 25-54 demographic, "Nightline" has now outdrawn Letterman for three quarters in a row for the first time in nine years.

The late night news show is also closing the gap with "The Tonight Show," having grown 18% year over year and cutting the viewing gap between "Nightline" and Jay Leno's show to its lowest level since 2003 among total viewers, and its lowest level since 1996 among Adults 25-54.

Full ratings information below:

Late Night Show Ratings Q1 2009
"Tonight Show," NBC: 5.32 million total viewers, 2.3 million A25-54
"Nightline," ABC: 3.86 million total viewers, 1.69 million 25-54
"Late Show," CBS: 3.79 million total viewers, 1.68 million A25-54

Comments

[dadw5boys]

05:15 AM on 04/04/2009

She has the " I just had a Quickie" look down pat.

[wingnutgator]

01:11 PM on 04/03/2009

I used to be a fan of Letterman, but in recent years he comes off bored and tired, like he would much rather be somewhere else. Retire Dave, surely you have enough money to buy some third world country.

[YeahDonkey]

11:07 AM on 04/03/2009

and they both get their asses handed to them by the Daily Show and Colbert.

The Neilsons are a joke and so is Nightline.

[tfoley]

09:55 AM on 04/03/2009

I find letterman better compared to leno, maybe just ny humor, but I wonder why the ratings are so low, could it be because of how liberal he is? just curious

[Halfwit]

05:25 AM on 04/03/2009

Nightline is generally tabloid crap now. Apparently spending an entire 30 minute show devoted to a single issue was just too hard for people when it was Koppel's show.
I don't even know why it is still called Nightline.

[poundsixzeros]

03:09 PM on 04/03/2009

I agree...it­'s just tawdry enough to attract the masses. How sad is that?

[sheaintsayin]

12:59 AM on 04/03/2009

Nightline, specifical­ly the terrific Cynthia McFadden, rocks, as does David Letterman. Jay's okay in a superficia­l kind of way, but I will grant him props for an excellent show with our President, Barack Hussein Obama, the Leader of The Free World!

[truthglow]

12:18 AM on 04/03/2009

In this era of uncertaint­y, why would people want to watch such clowns when they could watch some decent journalism­? Nightline is much better without the SHILL, Koppel!!!

[YeahDonkey]

11:09 AM on 04/03/2009

Your joking right? Nightline.­...journal­ism? LMAO

[jordan3189]

11:41 PM on 04/02/2009

Lately it sounds like letterman is angling for a spot on msnbc primetime.

[stagebandman]

11:06 PM on 04/02/2009

I really wish they'd dump the two stiffs and make Cynthia McFadden the sole anchor.

[tokenconservative]

10:45 PM on 04/02/2009

Boohoo, no more partisan hackery.

[GiannaX]

10:40 PM on 04/02/2009

It has degraded since Koppel left. It's three segments of fluff for the most part, which probably explains the ratings.

[AfroLatina21]

10:37 PM on 04/02/2009

I love Nightline.­.....I watch it every night!

I think it has actually gotten better since Ted Koppel has left. I just wish the show was 1 hour instead of 30 minutes.

[YeahDonkey]

11:14 AM on 04/03/2009

Gotten Better? You can not be serious? You must like your infotainme­nt with extra sugar and lots of fluff. Just to let you in on a secret, Ted Koppel is what decent television journalism used to look like, I know you have not seen any since, but that's what it used to look like.

[jimrs6]

10:23 PM on 04/02/2009

Just shows how far Letterman has fallen. Who wants to watch an angry old man ?

[GiannaX]

10:58 PM on 04/02/2009

Dave isn't angry and he's not old. What a ridiculous comment. I suspect Letterman'­s ratings will increase handily when Conan takes over the Tonight Show,

[stagebandman]

11:04 PM on 04/02/2009

I do. Because he's funny. And topical. And he doesn't go for the cheap laugh every time like Jay does. And he's a better interviewe­r. Any other stupid questions?

[Eric8869]

10:20 PM on 04/02/2009

And ABC was going to cancel it and put on another talk show. Shows how stupid their programmer­s are. Replacing POLITICALL­Y INCORRECT with Jimmy Kimmel was another stupid decision.

Martin Bashir is a tabloid journalist - he doesn't deserve to be on this show.

[mediamarv]

08:00 PM on 04/02/2009

CORRECTION­:

Sorry, it should be "if this group.....­. is the cast."

And don't tell my mom.