Jon Hamm, Lindsay Lohan, and musical guest Pharrell Williams joined Jimmy Fallon for a special post-Sunday Night Football edition of The Tonight Show this past Sunday night, and viewership for the program, as one might expect, skyrocketed.
Taped earlier in the day, the special aired at 12:42 a.m. ET (after local news), and in primetime on the West Coast, averaging 1,770,000 total viewers, per Nielsen live-plus-same-day data for November 17. That’s The Tonight Show‘s largest live-plus-same-day audience since its post-NFL season opener broadcast on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024 (2,400,000 total viewers), and the show’s fifth-most-watched episode of the year to-date. Sunday’s special gained +47% in total live-plus-same-day viewers from The Tonight Show’s November to-date average, +47% from its Q4 average, and +40% from the show’s year to-date live-plus-same-day average.
The special also averaged 541,000 viewers 18-49 on Nov. 17—The Tonight Show‘s largest live-plus-same-day delivery in the measurement since its Sept. 5 broadcast (747,000 P18-49), and the third most-watched Tonight Show episode in the demo year to-date. Sunday’s special gained +152% in P18-49 viewers from The Tonight Show‘s November live-plus-same-day average, +168% from its Q4 average, and +159% from its year to-date average.
The special, which included a widely-shared clip of Fallon and guest Jon Hamm recreating the music video for Creed’s “With Arms Wide Open,” wasn’t carried by all NBC affiliates as some stations chose to air local programming instead.
This wasn’t the first time Fallon has produced a Sunday night episode to follow primetime’s top-rated show. The Tonight Show previously aired five episodes after Sunday Night Football in 2019, and two after The Super Bowl–in 2018 and 2015.
The Nov. 17 edition of Sunday Night Football was originally supposed to feature the Indianapolis Colts vs. New York Jets, with Fallon shooting promos for the special at MetLife Stadium, home of the Jets. However, two weeks ago, the NFL and NBC decided to replace that matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals vs. Los Angeles Chargers from SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
