Conan O'Brien's ratings rise, dominates in demo; Letterman addresses Palin (video)

Conan O'Brien's "Tonight Show" reversed its ratings decline and showed growth for the first time Wednesday night. Also, new ratings for O'Brien's first week behind the "Tonight" desk give NBC a record-setting lead over CBS' "Late Show" among adults 18-49.

After seven nights of drops, NBC's "Tonight" may have found its bottom. The talk show rebounded 10% from Monday's performance, climbing to a 3.2 last night in the household ratings.

That was enough to edge out David Letterman's "Late Show," which had bested O'Brien's "Tonight" in the overnights for the first time Tuesday evening. Letterman pulled a 3.1 rating, dropping slightly from the previous night.

Letterman's lower number comes after headline-making jokes about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter. On Wednesday's show, Letterman gave a lengthy explanation/apology for his comments, and invited Palin onto his program (video below). O'Brien welcomed Dane Cook as guest; Letterman had Kathy Griffin and Stupid Human Tricks.

Though overnight household ratings (which measure approximate overall viewership) have grown tighter between the two programs since O'Brien took over "The Tonight Show," newly released adult demo numbers portray last week's competition as an NBC blowout. 

The advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 ratings give O'Brien a 2.3 average rating last week -- the highest-rated week for "Tonight" in more than four years and a 156% margin over CBS' "Late Show."

Even excluding the high-rated Monday premiere, "Tonight" held an 111% advantage over "Late Show," marking the best percentage advantage over the CBS program in more than 10 years. Even on their closest night, Friday, O'Brien received a 1.5 rating to Letterman's 0.8.

The numbers helped push “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” to its highest weeklong demo rating yet (1.0), with a 67% margin over CBS’s “Late Late  Show with Craig Ferguson." Also, "Last Call with Carson Daly" delivered  its biggest rating (0.6) since 2007. 

NBC issued a press release declaring O'Brien "The New King of Late Night."

“This is beyond our wildest expectations,” said Rick Ludwin, executive vp, late night and primetime series, NBC Entertainment. “Conan has brought new younger viewers to 11:35 pm and we're gratified that the demographic trend has continued here in week two, where the early numbers continue to show dominant victories, in all the key categories, for ‘The Tonight Show’.”