Michelle Obama Surges ‘Tonight Show’ Ratings Up In Final Fallon Visit
During the presidential campaign last year, Michelle Obama repeatedly told supporters that “when they go low, we go high” in relation to Donald Trump and the Republicans. Well, that didn’t work out at the ballot box, but it sure was true of the first lady’s final official visit to The Tonight Show on Wednesday.
With a 3.0/8 result in metered-market ratings, Obama’s thank-you notes with host Jimmy Fallon and greeting fans helped push the NBC late-night show to a 10-month Wednesday high. Not only was last night’s show the best any midweek Tonight Show has done since March 2, but the show was up a strong 25% over its previous Wednesday original of December 21.
A repeat guest on the show with 11 appearances over the past eight years, the first lady has been a ratings winner before. However, last night’s appearance might hold special significance as The Tonight Show won easily over its combined competition. In local People Meters looking at the 18-49 demo, The Tonight Show’s 0.9 result was the same as the 0.5 of Jimmy Kimmel Live! and the 0.4 of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert put together.
Among metered-market ratings, the ABC late-night show drew a 1.8/5, while CBS’ got a 2.0/5.
Of course in nine days, America will have a new first lady in Melania Trump — when will she be showing up on The Tonight Show as her husband so often has?
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