Bob Larson Tennis News - MN, USA - NBC's "The Tonight Show with
Jay Leno" has overcome late start times to finish within 6,000 adult 18-49 viewers of first place for the week of July 2-6, marking the most competitive finish for "Tonight" in four years during its week of telecasts delayed by Wimbledon tennis coverage.
This is the third year in a row that "Tonight" has reduced the winning margin for CBS' "Late Show with
David Letterman" versus the previous year's Wimbledon week. In 2004, Letterman took the week by a 31 percent margin in 18-49 viewers, in 2005, the margin was 11 percent, in 2006 it was 9 percent and this year the "Late Show" margin has shrunk to a mere 0.4 percent. In total viewers, Jay also delivered his most competitive Wimbledon week in four years and has sliced the "Late Show" margin the last three years in a row.
"Late Night with
Conan O'Brien" delivered another big Wimbledon week this year, winning the 12:35 a.m. ET hour with encore telecasts delayed by tennis against original, on-time competition from CBS' "Late Late Show with
Craig Ferguson" (which was in encore on Wednesday, July 4, with that telecast not counted in weeklong averages). Conan stretched his lead versus last year's Wimbledon week, prevailing among 18-49 viewers by a 33 percent margin last week versus a 24 percent advantage for the same week last year. Conan has now won 612 weeks in a row in 18-49, in a streak that dates back to the week of July 10-14, 1995.
