NBC looks to boost Jimmy Fallon’s ‘Tonight’ by airing it after ‘Sunday Night Football’
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“Tonight” host Jimmy Fallon is hoping to score new viewers this fall with some help from TV’s top-rated program.
NBC said Thursday that the late-night franchise will get special airings following the four “Sunday Night Football” games and late local newscasts during the upcoming season. Two of the NFL games will feature the Kansas City Chiefs, which will be pop culture spectacles thanks to tight end Travis Kelce’s engagement to Taylor Swift.
“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” will air Sept. 21 following the Chiefs’ contest with the New York Giants. Episodes will also air after the Oct. 26 game between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers, the Nov. 16 game with the Detroit Lions and Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, and the Chiefs’ Dec. 7 meeting with the Houston Texans.
The program will aim to book high-profile guests for the Sunday airings. Matthew McConaughey and Eric Church are scheduled to appear on Sept. 21.
When Fallon’s program aired an episode after “Sunday Night Football” last season, it scored its best ratings of the year. NBC has committed to more at a time when late-night TV is in crisis.
CBS’ decision to cancel “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” because of financial losses highlighted how one of TV’s most enduring genres is struggling. Declining ratings and revenues — due to the erosion of appointment TV viewing in the streaming age — have hurt all late-night shows, including “Tonight.”
The lame-duck status and eventual departure of Colbert from late night in May presents an opportunity for “Tonight” to gain viewers who are still in the habit of watching the desk-and-sofa fests at 11:35 p.m.
“We’re hoping to pick up some of those eyeballs for our show,” said Katie Hockmeyer, executive vice president of late-night programming for NBC.
The ratings decline in network prime time has dragged late night down with it, depriving the suited hosts of their once powerful lead-ins.
“Sunday Night Football” has defied that trend, averaging 21.6 million viewers on TV and streaming last season, according to Nielsen and Adobe Analytics data, its best performance since 2015. “SNF” has been the most-watched prime-time series for 14 straight years.
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While “Tonight” and “Late Night With Seth Meyers” face the same business challenges as “Late Show,” NBC says it remains committed to its programs, which have a rich history. Both Fallon and Meyers are signed through 2028.
“Tonight” goes back to the early days of television, and Fallon performs on the same floor of NBC’s Rockefeller Center headquarters as Johnny Carson did when he hosted the program out of New York. David Letterman expanded the audience for comedy in the time period when “Late Night” debuted in the 12:30 a.m. slot in 1982.
Former California Gov. Jerry Brown, left, with “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson in 1979.
Hockmeyer declined to discuss the financial state of “Tonight,” but noted that NBC’s late-night programming has value beyond the ratings. They provide a platform to tout properties throughout NBCUniversal, such as films from Universal Pictures, programming on NBC and the streaming service Peacock, and coverage of major sporting events such as the Olympics.
“I think we have to remember that these shows are amazing ecosystems that help promote things within the company,” Hockmeyer said.
NBC’s affiliates pay the network for the programs. They are taken into consideration when the network negotiates carriage fees from satellite and cable systems that carry its stations.
The network’s sales department also uses the programs to sell product placements in which brands are embedded into comedy bits.
