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With fast official ratings now in for NBC’s Monday night, both Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon have a lot to be happy about. Each of their late-night shows scored big in both total viewers and adults under 50.
The first episode of Late Night With Seth Meyers averaged 3.4 million viewers and a 1.4 rating among adults 18-49. In the key demo, that’s the best Monday Late Night in almost a decade — since January 2005. That outpaces Jimmy Fallon‘s 2009 Late Night debut by more than 500,000 viewers and a tenth of a point in the targeted demographic.
THR COVER: Seth Meyers on Late Night Jitters, Lorne Michaels’ Advice and Leaving his Dream Job
As for Fallon’s new gig, his first regular Monday Tonight Show averaged 6.26 million viewers and a 2.1 rating among adults 18-49. Those are both Monday bests, excluding Olympic nights, since Conan O’Brien‘s 2009 premiere in the slot.
Both series easily bested the night’s biggest competition, Late Show With David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel Live!, who averaged a respective 2.59 and 2.44 million viewers.
The updated numbers are in line with the earlier arrival of metered-market overnights. The first night of Meyers’ post-Tonight talk show pulled a 2.6 rating among households. That also ranks as Late Night‘s best Monday since 2005, besting the 2.3-rated premiere Jimmy Fallon had in the same hour. Meyers had the benefit of a visit from Vice President Joe Biden.
And for Fallon, his first night without a gargantuan Olympic lead-in brought a 4.5 rating among households, Tonight‘s best for a non-Olympic Monday showing since Jay Leno‘s 2010 return to the show. And while it is still far too early to glean any long-term value from a number like that, it is substantially higher than O’Brien’s start of his second week at Tonight, which earned just a 3.1 rating.
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