"THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON" DEBUTS WITH STRONG AUDIENCE SAMPLING, AVERAGING 11.3 MILLION VIEWERS

Fallon is Up 71% Versus His Feb. 7 'Late Night' Finale, Which Also Aired Near Midnight Following Primetime Olympic Coverage

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. - Feb. 18, 2014 - The debut of "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" has generated strong sampling at a special midnight start time following late local news and NBC's coverage of the Sochi Winter Olympics. Fallon's "Tonight" debut last night averaged a 3.8 rating in adults 18-49 and 11.314 million viewers overall, according to fast-official "live plus same day" ratings from Nielsen Media Research, making these the top results to date for a Fallon-hosted late-night talk-show hour.

The 11.314 million is up 71% or 4.7 million persons versus the 6.601 million for the Friday, Feb. 7 finale of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," which aired at 12:05 a.m. ET following primetime Olympics coverage) and was Fallon's previous high for a late-night talk-show hour.

The 11.314 million is also the second-biggest audience for "Tonight" since May 29, 2009 (11.901 million, for Leno's last telecast before Conan O'Brien took over as host), trailing over that span only the Thursday, Feb. 6 finale of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (14.637 million for an 11:35 p.m. ET telecast that also followed primetime Olympics coverage).

Monday's Fallon debut on "Tonight" delivered more viewers than all but two of last week's primetime non-Olympic programs on ABC, CBS and Fox (for the week of Feb. 10-16, behind only CBS's Thursday encore of "The Big Bang Theory," 11.8 million; and Fox's Wednesday "American Idol," 11.7 million).

In adults 18-49, last night's 3.8 rating ties the Feb. 6 Leno finale as the top "Tonight" since Friday, Jan. 22, 2010 (4.4 for Conan O'Brien's final "Tonight Show") and is the highest-rated Monday telecast of "Tonight" since Jan. 24, 2005 (tribute to Johnny Carson, 4.8). Versus Fallon's Feb. 7 "Late Night" finale, Monday's "Tonight" debut is up 73% (3.8 vs. 2.2)

The 3.8 rating ranks ahead of every primetime non-Olympic program on ABC, CBS and Fox last week, Feb. 10-16, 12% ahead of the week's highest primetime non-Olympic rating on those networks, 3.4 for Wednesday's "American Idol."

Versus season-to-date averages through Feb. 9, Monday's 'Tonight' telecast is up +182% in total viewers (11.314 million vs. 4.011 million).

Results from 11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET last night were: "Late Show with David Letterman," 0.5 rating in adults 18-49, 2.411 million viewers overall; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.4 in 18-49, 2.106 million viewers overall.

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.

The Feb. 17 "Tonight" telecast featured Will Smith, musical guest U2 and numerous additional guest appearances. Tuesday's show is scheduled to feature Jerry Seinfeld, Kristen Wiig and Lady Gaga.

NBC RECORDS MOST WATCHED & HIGHEST RATED SECOND MONDAY OF WINTER OLYMPICS SINCE LIVE SALT LAKE CITY GAMES IN 2002

NBC Posts Most Dominant Monday Night in Sept.-May TV Season by Any Broadcast Net Since '98 Academy Awards Featuring "Titanic" As Best Picture

NBCSN Monday Telecast Sets Network Record for Weekday Daytime Viewership

USA-Czech Republic Men's Hockey Quarterfinal Airs Live at 12 Noon ET Wednesday on USA Network; Live Figure Skating Remains on NBCSN

STAMFORD, Conn. - February 18, 2014 - Last night's primetime Olympics on NBC (8-11 p.m. ET) featuring Meryl Davis and Charlie White winning America's first-ever ice dancing Olympic gold medal ranks as the most watched and highest rated second Monday of a Winter Olympics since the live U.S.-based Salt Lake City Games in 2002. The Monday night telecast averaged 23.5 million viewers and a 13.8 household rating/21 share, according to live plus same day fast national data released today by The Nielsen Company.

In addition, NBC last night topped the combined primetime viewership and household rating of ABC, CBS and FOX (18.2 million viewers and 11.7 household rating) by 29% and 18% -- marking the most-dominant Monday night in the Sept.-May TV season by any broadcast network compared to the combined performance of the other major broadcast networks since the 1998 Academy Awards, which featured Titanic as Best Picture.

· Last night's 23.5 million viewers and 13.8 household rating/21 share topped the comparable second Monday for the 2010 Vancouver Games by 12% and 10% respectively (20.9 million viewers; 12.5 household rating/20 share) and the 2006 Torino Games by 4% and 1% (22.5 million viewers; 13.6 household rating/21 share).

· NBCSN posted another daytime (6 a.m.-3 p.m. ET) viewership milestone on Monday, averaging a network weekday-record 1.6 million viewers for coverage which featured ice dancing, men's ski jumping and Team USA women's hockey. In six weekdays of Sochi Olympics coverage to date, NBCSN has recorded its six most-watched weekdays ever in the 6 a.m.-3 p.m. ET time period.

TOP 10 METERED MARKETS TO DATE NBC PRIMETIME COVERAGE (Feb. 6-Feb. 17):
Market HH rating/share
1. Minneapolis 20.4/35
2. Salt Lake City 19.6/37
3. Denver 18.9/32
4. Milwaukee 18.0/29
5. Kansas City 17.6/28
6. Ft. Myers 17.3/27
7. Indianapolis 16.8/27
8. Portland 16.4/28
9. Buffalo 16.2/25
10. Pittsburgh 15.8/24

ABOUT NBC OLYMPICS

A division of the NBC Sports Group, NBC Olympics is responsible for producing, programming and promoting NBCUniversal's Olympic coverage. It is renowned for its unsurpassed Olympic heritage, award-winning production, and ability to aggregate the largest audiences in U.S. television history.