Leno’s Late-Night Streak Continues

David Letterman and “Nightline” commanded the lion’s share of headlines during March, but the first three months of 2002 again belonged to “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno”: NBC’s late-night host dominated the ratings in finishing first for the 26th consecutive quarter.

Leno’s show, which will mark its 10th anniversary with a prime-time special April 30, averaged 6 million viewers per average minute, mirroring its performance versus the same three-month period last year.

CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman,” meanwhile, was up slightly compared with first-quarter 2002, averaging 4.2 million viewers. “Nightline” fell 7%, to 4.2 million viewers, while the ABC show that rounds out the hour, “Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher,” slipped 11%, to 2.5 million viewers.

“Politically Incorrect” has lost some affiliate coverage since comments by Maher generated controversy during the fall. Moreover, ABC’s ratings in prime time are down by more than 20%, which hasn’t helped other parts of the network’s schedule.

Leno also maintains a solid advantage among adults ages 18 to 49, the most important demographic to advertisers.

These latest ratings underscoring “The Tonight Show’s” unwavering leadership coincide with Leno’s first detailed remarks addressing the recent tumult surrounding late night, including reports that Letterman’s flirtation with jumping to ABC was driven by his fervent desire to narrow the gap with Leno.

Industry sources say the fact that Letterman trails Leno gnaws at the host, whose new CBS contract stipulates that he will receive more promotion from the network’s parent company, Viacom, in an effort to make his show more competitive.

“You’d think after all this time it would be, ‘Oh, well, he’s successful, I’m successful, everybody is rich beyond their wildest dreams.’ I don’t know why there has to be such animosity. It just seems odd to me,” Leno told TV Guide.

Over the years, the press has generally favored Letterman, critically anointing him as the heir to Johnny Carson. Leno, meanwhile, has taken a more populist approach, telling TV Guide that he takes “a certain perverse pleasure” in knowing he works more weeks a year than Letterman, makes less money and turns out a more profitable show. “I’ll take ambition over genius any day of the week,” he said.

Beyond Leno, NBC’s “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” averaged 2.5 million viewers during the first quarter this year, a 4% gain from 2001 and 900,000 more than CBS’ competing “Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn,” which experienced a 5% decline. The new half-hour NBC show that follows O’Brien, “Last Call With Carson Daly,” averaged 1.7 million viewers.