'Conan' Ratings: Good, But For How Long?

Everyone expected Conan O'Brien's return to television to be a big deal, but we're not even sure TBS could have predicted it would be this huge.

'Conan' premiered to 4.2 million viewers, scoring a 2.5 in the coveted adults 18-49 demographic and a 2.8 household rating, according to a TBS press release -- meaning Coco officially beat Jay Leno in last night's ratings.

In fact, O'Brien handily outperformed all of his late night competition -- 'The Tonight Show' scored a 2.7 household rating (3.5 million) while 'Late Show' came in at 2.5 (3.4 million) and 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' at 1.7. He also landed ahead of 'Lie to Me' (1.8), 'The Event' (1.8) and the entire NBC primetime lineup last night in the demo.

'The Daily Show' was a distant 1.5 (1.3 million viewers), with 'The Colbert Report' scoring a 1.1 (1 million). These figures are based on Nielsen's 56 metered markets and could shift once national figures are in, but 'Conan' is still expected to be the late-night leader -- for this Monday, at least.

Another key win for TBS and Conan was the fact that his median audience age was considerably lower than his network competitors. With a median of 30 years old, that's decades younger than Leno (59) and Letterman (53), and even edges out both Stewart (38) and Colbert (34). Of course, that still leaves one big question unanswered: How many of them will stick around?

After O'Brien's controversial ouster from NBC's 'The Tonight Show' earlier this year, the host launched a buzz-ed-about online presence on Twitter and headlined a comedy tour across the nation in anticipation of his new show. All that feverish fan excitement he's managed to build was inevitably going to lead to big returns for the premiere.

As we saw with 'The Tonight Show,' though, a big premiere can ultimately not mean much at all. O'Brien's 'Tonight Show' debut garnered a massive 17 million viewers before tapering off quickly to as low as 3.3 million total viewers. How many of 'Conan''s fickle young viewers will stick around as the new show progresses-- especially now that it seems 'Conan' will be much of the same?

Anyone hoping for a dramatic break from the standard late night format was sorely disappointed. Every late night component -- from the band to the sidekick, the skits to the monologue, the parade of guests to the closing musical act -- was present. It was as if O'Brien was determined to prove he could beat NBC without resorting to gimmicks or changing up the game in any way. But was that the right call? TV Squad's own Mo Ryan was hopeful he would bring some "of the surreal, weird or goofy humor that so endeared Conan to his loyal audience" in her take on the premiere, but that wasn't the case.

A lot of that manic creativity was channeled into O'Brien's live show and galvanized his Team Coco legions throughout his television hiatus, but very little of it made it onto the premiere. If his fanbase was hoping for more than just the beard to stick around, they may have been disappointed enough to tune out as quickly as they tuned in. This is the third time O'Brien has launched a new show. Didn't he pick up any new tricks in his time away?

Edging Leno by a 0.1 in household ratings is surely satisfying, but the victory may be as short-lived as tonight's show. And O'Brien doesn't have to beat Leno to be a success, or even his own 'Tonight Show' ratings. He has seen what kind of an audience he's capable of bringing to TBS, and last night's ratings are a huge testament to cable's power to compete with the late night network big boys. Now he just has to figure out what kind of show to give his followers to ensure their satisfaction and continued support.

Follow Jason @ultraversion21 on Twitter.