Latenight might

Leno's 'Tonight' stays on top in key demo

By TOM BIERBAUM

David Letterman may be closing the gap on Jay Leno in total viewers, but Leno's "Tonight Show" remains a powerhouse in key young-adult demographics, claiming its biggest November sweeps margins ever over Letterman's "Late Show."

The NBC latenighter inched a tenth of a point ahead of its year-ago November 18-49 average while "Late Show" held steady, giving "Tonight" a best-yet 53% margin for November (with a 2.6 rating, 12 share vs. "Letterman's" 1.7/8). "Leno's" past November 18-49 margins were 47% in 1998, 27% in 1996 and 8% in 1995.

In adults 18-34, "Tonight" (2.1/11, even with last year) also enjoyed its biggest November edge over "Letterman" (1.3/7, down a tenth).

Adding older viewers

"Letterman" added older viewers in big numbers this November, helping the CBS talker close the total-viewers gap by an impressive 581,000. "Late Show" improved from last year's 2.42 million deficit to just 1.84 million this November. It was "Letterman's" closest major-sweeps finish by this measure (excluding the 1998 Winter Olympics) since November 1996 (Daily Variety, Dec. 6).

For the recently completed sweeps, "Letterman" was up 54% vs. last year in men 50-and-older (2.0/9 vs. 1.3/7) and up 29% in women 50-plus (2.7/12 vs. 2.1/9). "Leno" still has the larger 50-plus audience (2.3 million vs. 1.8 million).

Making progress

Season-to-date, "Letterman" has made 18-49 progress, up a tenth vs. last fall while "Leno" is down a tenth, so the two talkshows currently stand at 2.4/12 and 1.7/8 in the demo.

Each adults 18-49 rating point reps 1.24 million viewers, 1% of the U.S. total. The share is also a percentage, but measured against only viewers watching TV during the slot involved.