In its first February Sweep at a new time of 12:35am, “Nightline” drew 1.605 million Total Viewers, and 716,000 A25-54 viewers improving the timeslot +11% in Total Viewers, but losing more than half its audience from last February when the show aired an hour earlier on most ABC stations.

“Nightline” averaged 3.878 million viewers during the month of February 2012; 1.460 million in the A25-54 demo. In November, the most recent Sweep in the earlier timeslot, “Nightline” topped its competitors in total viewers and the two younger demos. Last month, the show fell to third place in all measurements in the later timeslot.

ABC’s ratings are based on a 25-minute broadcast, while CBS and NBC are based on approximately :50 minutes (prior to the final national commercial break of each program).

• February 2013 Sweep:

Show	Network	Total Viewers	A25-54	A18-49
Late Night	NBC	1.719M	777K	684K
Late, Late Show	CBS	1.615M	721K	562K
Nightline	ABC	1.605M	716K	527K

A slew of CBS programs, including “CBS This Morning,” the “CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley and “Super Bowl Live” will originate from Jackson Square in New Orleans leading up to Super Bowl XLVII early next year.

Jackson Squre, in the heart of New Orleans’ French Quarter, will become “CBS Super Bowl Park” from January 8-February 3, leading up to the big game. All told, 15 CBS programs will originate from the park from four different sets.

From the news division: “CBS This Morning” will originate there from Thursday-Saturday. ‘The CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley” will originate there Friday and Saturday. “Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer” will kick off the network’s Super Bowl programming Sunday morning. In addition, the President usually gives an interview to the network broadcasting the game, expect that to happen again with CBS.

Sports shows include: “The Super Bowl Today,” “Super Bowl Live,” “Inside the Super Bowl,” “Rome,” “NFL Monday QB,” “Lead Off” and “Inside the NFL.”

Entertainment shows include “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” “The Talk” and “OMG! Insider.”

For the third season running, “Nightline” was the #1 show in late night topping NBC’s “The Tonight Show” and CBS’s “The Late Show.” But as “Nightline” prepares for a late night shift, the show will likely see a drop-off in viewership with the hope of staying #1 against Jimmy Fallon on NBC and Craig Ferguson on CBS.

“Nightline” topped “The Tonight Show” with its largest A25-54 lead (+45,000) in 17 years – since the 1994-95 season. “Nightline” beat “The Late Show” by its largest margins in both Total Viewers (+728,000) and Adults 25-54 (+186,000) in 13 years – since the 1998-99 season.

In January, “Nightline” will move to 12:35pmET/11:35pmCT as “Jimmy Kimmel Live” gets the coveted timeslot after the late local news, going head-to-head with Jay Leno and David Letterman.

While “Nightline” gets the win, the show is down from the 2010-2011 season: down -6% in Total Viewers and -10% in both A25-54 and A18-49 viewers. But “Nightline” is not alone in seeing a drop-off. Collectively, year-over-year “Nightline,” Leno and Letterman are down -7% in total viewers and down -12% in both the A25-54 and A18-49 demos as cable programs and other media vie for consumer attention, especially among younger viewers. And the loss of younger viewers is not an anomaly: the shows are down -13% (A25-54) and -19% (A18-49) vs. the 2009-2010 season.

ABC’s ratings are based on a 25-minute broadcast, while CBS and NBC are based on approximately :50 minutes (prior to the final national commercial break of each program).

• Averages for the 2011-2012 Season:
  

The numbers for the week of Sept. 17 and the third quarter of 2012 show the downward trend as all three shows are down from their season averages. Not a good sign and likely another factor in ABC’s decision to move Kimmel up a half hour.

• Averages for the week of Sept. 17, 2012:
  

• Averages for Q3 2012:
  

After his appearance on the ”Late Show with David Letterman” this evening, Keith Olbermann Tweeted: “Lots of fun w/the best interviewer in the business – including when it gets serious.” Presumably this means Olbermann opens up his departure from Current TV last week. Interestingly, also on Letterman tonight, Allison Williams, the daughter of NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, who is staring in the new HBO show “Girls.” (Allison, not Brian).

Back to Olbermann. Earlier today, the New York Post published parts of internal emails between Current TV president David Bohrman Olbermann’s manager, Michael Price, in the weeks leading up to Olbermann’s dismissal from the network.

[T]he final straw came … when the “Countdown” anchor threatened to take off the day before the all-important Super Tuesday primaries on March 6. Price was so adamant about getting his boss his precious vacation day that Bohrman was reduced to begging. “The night before Super Tuesday is a BIG night for us … I would hate to have our main anchor off on such a night. Can we slip this please?” Bohrman pleaded. Price then nagged the former CNN executive, asking him why it was so important for an anchor with a $50 million contract to broadcast during a major political event. “Please indicate, with specificity, why Keith is essential to that day,” Price taunted Bohrman.

More of Olbermann’s side of it tonight on “Late Show.” Speaking of which, it was also announced today that Letterman and “Late, Late Show” host Craig Ferguson have extended their CBS contracts for another two years – through 2014. Both series are produced by Letterman’s Worldwide Pants, Inc.

The last few days have seen a flurry of TV news personalities taker to the late night talk shows. With the situation in the Middle East still evolving rapidly, and the protests in Wisconsin, there has been plenty to talk about.

On Monday, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer stopped by CBS’ “Late Late Show” to talk to Craig Ferguson, in what turned out to be a very serious conversation:

Meanwhile, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow was on “The Tonight Show,” where Jay Leno pulled our her old high school graduation photo. “Were you auditioning to be a Fox News reporter there?”

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The departure of Keith Olbermann from MSNBC Friday night sent shock-waves through the TV business, and it seems like just about everyone with their own show opted to weigh in on the matter last night.

Olbermann’s Fox News competitor, Bill O’Reilly, discussed the matter with Bernie Goldberg, without ever mentioning the MSNBC host by name:

On MSNBC, both Lawrence O’Donnell and Rachel Maddow paid tribute to their former colleague:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Since Keith Olbermann‘s announcement Friday that he will no longer be with MSNBC, everyone was left thinking, “So what now?”

At 3pmET yesterday, @keitholbermann tweeted:

At exactly 8 Eastern tonight I will issue my first tweet. Well, other than THIS one

And then…five hours later…@keitholbermann tweeted:

Citizens Of The Free World: Greetings! …….. (more to come) #FOK

Then he tweeted again minutes later:

My humble thanks to all Friends of Keith for the many kind words. The reports of the death of my career are greatly exaggerated #FOK

@keitholbermann then posted a Twitpic (right) and thanked his followers for making #FOK trending on Twitter.

And then he instructed his followers to do what most planned on doing anyway:

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The new “Early Show” team of Chris Wragge, Erica Hill, Jeff Glor and Marysol Castro made a group appearance on lasts night’s “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.”

Much like he did during Katie Couric‘s interview on the show last week, Ferguson asked the kind of “out there” questions he is known for. Luckily, the team was game:

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“CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric was a guest on “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” last night, and it made for a memoerably bizarre segment.

Couric recalls a blind date she had with comedian Bob Saget (yes, really) she dances with Ferguson as two staffers dressed as Triple Crown-winning horse Secretariat enter from stage right, and she recalls a conversation she and Ferguson had after the 2008 White House Correspondents Association Dinner, which Ferguson hosted.

Read more

> Glenn Beck doing impersonations of Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann.

> Jon Stewart‘s take on coverage of the Baucus health care plan and Sen. Olympia Snowe.

> Craig Ferguson discussing his appearance with Larry King.

> Nothing like ol’ cameraman vs. the-guy-who-does-not-want-to-be-filmed. A local TV cameraman for KATU in Oregon gets into it with the man he is filming. Here’s the full story.

Video Wall* below:

*Technology out of control