Jimmy Fallon-Led 'Tonight Show' Opens Big

Jimmy Fallon-led 'Tonight Show' Opens Big

02.18.2014

NBC's "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" averaged 11.3 million viewers in its debut, up 71% compared to Fallon's Feb. 7 "Late Night" finale.

The show also averaged a 3.8 live plus same day rating among late-night's key demographic of adults 18-49, according to Nielsen Media Research.

That's the third-largest audience for NBC's storied franchise since Jay Leno's official departure on Thursday, Feb. 6, when 14.6 million people tuned in, and since May 29, 2009, when 11.9 million people watched what they thought would be Leno's last "Tonight Show" before turning it over to Conan O'Brien.

Among adults 18-49, that 3.8 is the show's highest rating since Friday, Jan. 22, 2010, when O'Brien signed off his short-term run, which also scored a 3.8. It's also the show's highest-rated Monday night broadcast since January 24, 2005, when the show paid tribute to the show's legendary host, Johnny Carson, who passed away on January 23, 2005 ,at the age of 79.

Season-to-date, "The Tonight Show" is averaging 4 million viewers. Fallon's debut clobbered all the competition, with CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman" averaging a 2.4 million viewers and a 0.5 in adults 18-49 and ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" averaging 2.1 million viewers and a 0.4 among adults 18-49. That said, first-night ratings don't mean much for franchises such as Tonight that need to perform for the network over the long haul, as Vulture's Joe Adalian explores in-depth here.

The top 10 highest-rated local markets for last night's "Tonight" debut were: Denver, St. Louis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Chicago, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle-Tacoma, Houston and Orlando-Daytona Beach.