According to newly released numbers, Conan is the number one late night show among viewers under the age of 50 when DVR viewers are counted. With the show averaging about 1.44 million viewers in that coveted adults 18 to 49 demographic, Coco is raking in about 100,000 more viewers than Leno, who’s at about 1.35 million. Letterman is at 1.16 million and The Daily Show/Colbert Report pull in about 829,000 for the hour.
The numbers aren’t quite as rosy when you look at the entire audience or ignore DVR viewers, but advertisers really do care about that demographic and it seems disingenuous to ignore people who use a DVR. All things considered, this does seem like a fair rubric to use when comparing these shows’ audiences. And I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that Conan’s streaming numbers put Leno and Letterman’s to shame, although I wouldn’t say the same about The Daily Show/Colbert Report’s.
In any case, it’s surprising, isn’t it? I mean, Conan is a great show, to be sure. But to be shellacking the Comedy Central guys like that? That’s crazy. But it has got to feel good to be Big Red and seeing these numbers, at least in relation to Leno’s.
