Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Nice numbers for Conan opener in DFW ratings

Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Mon., June 1)

By Ed Bark of UncleBarky.com

Ed Bark

Conan O'Brien's first Tonight Show ranked as NBC5's most-watched program Monday, but fell short of Jay Leno's Friday night swan song.

O'Brien's maiden Tonight, with guests Will Ferrell and Pearl Jam, drew 205,933 D-FW viewers in easily besting CBS' new episode of Late Show With David Letterman (73,073 viewers). Tonight also ruled among advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds, amassing 110,201 viewers in this age range to decimate Late Show's 32,412.

Leno's goodbye had 305,578 total viewers, with 142,613 of them in the 18-to-49 demographic.

NBC also premiered its sub-cheesy I'm A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here, which filled the 7 to 9 p.m. slot and lured 159,432 total viewers. That tied it for second place overall with ABC's The Bachelorette. Three of CBS' four sitcom reruns -- The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men and Rules of Engagement -- won their half-hours while the network's How I Met Your Mother ran third from 7:30 to 8 p.m.

I'm A Celebrity -- the definition seldom has been used more loosely -- moved up to second place overall among 18-to-49-year-olds.

At 9 p.m., the last new episode of Medium on NBC ran fourth in both ratings measurements, drawing 132,860 total viewers. A repeat of CBS' CSI: Miami easily won the hour with 285,649 viewers.

In Monday's local news derby, WFAA8 narrowly won at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming. The respective second place finishers were CBS11 and NBC5.

The Peacock again dominated the 6 a.m. numbers, where it handily won the May sweeps and continues to coast. The 7 to 9 a.m. portion of Fox4's Good Day then recovered as usual to beat all three network morning shows.

NBC5 also had a big day in the 5 and 6 p.m. Nielsens, winning across the board.

WFAA8, no longer a powerhouse at these hours, tied for third with CBS11 at 5 p.m. in both measurements. WFAA8 also had a bronze at 6 p.m. in total viewers while running an out-of-the-money fourth among 25-to-54-year-olds.

Pegasus News content partner - UncleBarky.com

Check out Uncle Barky's blog for his review of Conan O'Brien's first Tonight Show.

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