Letterman was no failure. While Leno beat him regularly in audience size, Letterman had the more attractive audience from the advertisers' standpoint. The Late Show with David Letterman, however, never did live up to its expectations, but it did well enough to become a mainstay at CBS in the time slot, which no other show or host had been able to accomplish previously. In the end, Letterman goes down as a successful TV personality, not quite at the level of Leno, but a cut above Arsenio and several others who tried and failed in late night talk.