Fringe Ratings Report: ABC Late-Night Programming Week of May 14, 2012

ABC is the No. 1 Network in Late-Night in Adults 18-49 for the 6th Week in a Row

ABC's "Nightline" Ranks as the No. 1 Program in Late-Night for the 8th Straight Week

Standing as the Week's No. 3 Late-Night Talk Show in Viewers, Repeat Telecasts of ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Beat Originals of NBC's "Fallon" and CBS' "Ferguson"

ABC Late-Night (Monday - Friday)

During the week of May 14, 2012, ABC ranked as the No. 1 network in late-night in Adults 18-49 (805,000) for the 6th week running, leading CBS by 3% (780,000) and NBC by 13% (713,000). Together, "Nightline" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live" form ABC's winning late-night strategy of airing news and entertainment programming.

"Nightline" (Monday - Friday)

For the week of May 14, 2012, ABC's "Nightline" extended its streak as the No. 1 program in late-night to 8 straight weeks in all target demos: Total Viewers (3.701 million), Adults 25-54 (1.442 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.157 million), according to Nielsen Media Research. "Nightline" has finished as the week's top program in late-night in all 3 measures in 11 of the last 12 weeks.

Furthermore, "Nightline" has taken the No. 1 position in 24 weeks in Total Viewers, 28 weeks in Adults 25-54 and in 27 weeks in Adults 18-49 of the 35 weeks of the season to date.

ABC's "Nightline" owned the top broadcast of the week in late-night with its Wednesday telecast (5/16/12) across each of the target demos: Total Viewers (4.150 million), Adults 25-54 (1.714 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.358 million). In fact, "Nightline" has owned the top telecast of the week in each of the last 4 weeks versus all original competition.

Season to date, "Nightline" ranks No. 1 in late-night among Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49, ahead of both NBC's "The Tonight Show" and CBS' "The Late Show." This marks the 2nd straight season that the ABC program is taking the top spot in overall viewers and Adults 25-54.

"Jimmy Kimmel Live" (Monday - Friday)

During the week of May 14, 2012, ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" stood as the No. 3 talk show in late-night in Total Viewers (1.751 million), behind only NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (3.438 million) and CBS' "The Late Show with David Letterman" (3.179 million).

· ABC's "JKL" (M-F 12:00 a.m.) topped NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (M-F 12:35 a.m.) in both Total Viewers (+6% - 1.751 million vs. 1.648 million) and Adults 18-49 (+5% - 675,000 vs. 643,000) for the 8th week in a row. "JKL" drew a larger overall audience than the NBC program on 4 of the 5 days of the week: Tuesday (+9%), Wednesday (+12%), Thursday (+8%) and Friday (+3%). In fact, on Tuesday and Friday, "JKL's" repeat telecasts beat "Fallon's" original telecasts.

· ABC's "JKL" outperformed CBS' "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (M-F 12:35 a.m.) by 13% in Total Viewers (1.751 million vs. 1.550 million) and by 21% in Adults 18-49 (675,000 vs. 559,000), attracting a larger overall audience than the CBS program in all but one week this season. "JKL" beat "Ferguson" on 4 of 5 days in both viewers and young adults. In fact, all 3 repeat telecasts of "JKL" during the week (Monday, Tuesday and Thursday) outperformed original telecasts of "Ferguson."

Season to date (35 weeks), ABC's "JKL" is building its overall audience through the same weeks last year by 3% in Total Viewers (1.788 million vs. 1.737 million), and is on track to generate its most-watched season in 5 years - since 2006-07. In fact, "JKL" is the only late-night broadcast talk show to grow year over year in Total Viewers.

· ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" is the No. 3 broadcast talk show in late-night in Total Viewers (1.788 million) this season, outdrawing both NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.763 million) and CBS' "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.533 million).

Late-Night Rank (Week of May 14): TOTAL VIEWERS A18-49(000)

ABC 2,279,000 805,000

CBS 2,388,000 780,000

NBC 2,170,000 713,000

Source: The Nielsen Company, Live + Same Day National Program Ratings for week of 5/14/12, 5/7/12 & 5/16/11 or as dated. Most Current: 11-2012 Season (9/19 - 5/20/12) and 2010-2011 Season (9/20 - 5/22/11). Comparisons based on 000s. ABC Late-Night = "Nightline" and "JKL"; CBS Late-Night = "Letterman" and "Ferguson"; NBC Late-Night = "Tonight Show," "Fallon" and "Carson Daly."