As the late-night spotlight has been on NBC’s transitioning of The Tonight Show to Jimmy Fallon from Jay Leno, Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report registered a significant Nielsen milestone.
For the first time, The Colbert Report moved past The Tonight Show with Jay Leno among viewers 18 to 49 for a full quarter, said network officials. The Comedy Central entry averaged 1.107 million of those watchers during the first quarter, compared with 1.04 million for Tonight, according to Nielsen data.
As such, Colbert trailed only Comedy Central stablemate The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which averaged nearly 1.41 million of those watchers, with the key advertiser demo in late night.
With Colbert’s jump past Tonight, the Comedy Central duo headed the late-night list among all young demos: males 18 to 49, 18 to 34 and 18 to 24, as well as with persons 18 to 34 and 18 to 24.
Source: Multichannel News, 4/5/13
