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http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Dayparts_update_51/In_late_night_Jay_leaves_Dave_in_the_dust.asp
For a few brief nights after Jay Leno returned to "The Tonight Show," it looked as though he and David Letterman were going to be fighting for the lead every night, with Letterman winning his fair share.
But more than a month into Leno's return, that's no longer the case.
After a couple of early Letterman victories among young adults, Leno has taken a firm lead among total viewers and adults 18-49, and Letterman has lost virtually all the gains he made in Leno's absence.
For the week ended April 4, NBC's "Tonight" scored its largest advantage over CBS's "Late Show" in total viewers in four weeks and tied its largest margin among 18-49s in the past month.
"Tonight" averaged 4.2 million viewers, 1 million, or 32 percent, ahead of "Late Show." ABC's "Nightline" also finished ahead of Letterman with 3.7 million.
Among 18-49s, "Tonight" led by 25 percent with a 1.1 rating to "Late Show's" 0.9. "Nightline" also averaged a 0.9.
Leno has now won all 25 nights in total viewers since he returned from his brief run in primetime and 23 of 25 nights among 18-49s.
Before Leno's return, the sense of media people was that the two would jockey for No. 1 for some time but that eventually Leno would regain the lead. The question was just how long that would take.
The answer, now so evident, was not very long at all.
Letterman was averaging 4.1 million before Leno came back, and even the week of his rival's return he averaged 3.7 million. But from then on it was a steady downhill slide to last week's 3.2 million.
Some Letterman viewers may have switched to Leno while others may have simply drifted away.
Leno, too, has seen his viewership fall since his debut. He averaged 5.6 million in his first week back, and he's down from the 2008-'09 season, when he averaged 5.2 million.
But he's well above the 2.8 million Conan O'Brien was averaging before his ouster.
For all the media outcry over how poorly NBC handled O'Brien, it appears not to have hurt Leno upon his return. -------
"Andy justifies my hate."
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