Late Night TV Ratings: Who’s Top & Who’s Lagging Behind?

The competitive world of late-night has seen gains and losses in recent weeks, with The Late Show with Stephen Colbert leading the pack in audience share, and Fox News’ Gutfeld! not far behind.

According to LateNighter.com, citing Nielsen figures, the week of February 23 saw The Late Show continue to draw the largest audience in its timeslot, with a 7.56 audience share. Even though it was down -15% among total viewers and -21% in the demo, the show still stood atop in its timeslot with 2,030 million viewers and 214,000 in the key 18-49 demo.

In comparison, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which airs at the same time on ABC, grew its audience over the week prior by nearly 42 per cent among total viewers and by 15 per cent among viewers in the key demo. Yet, its total viewers were well behind The Late Show, with 1,553 million and 145,000 in the key demo.

Meanwhile, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, airing on NBC at the same time, lagged behind with 1,136 million total viewers; however, it posted a higher demo than Kimmel with 177,000.

The week’s big winner, though, was Fox News’ Gutfeld!, which airs at 10 pm and held an average of 3,539 million total viewers and a 305,000 in the key demo. However, its total audience share was slightly behind The Late Show with 7.52.

Also, it should be noted that Gutfeld! aired five first-run episodes that week, whereas Colbert, Kimmel, and Fallon aired four first-run episodes and a repeat. However, Gutfeld! airs on cable, where the other three shows air on broadcast.

ABC’s Nightline (five first-run episodes) led the way in total viewers in the 12:37 pm slot with 821,000, while After Midnight with Taylor Tomlinson (four first-run episodes and one repeat) on CBS averaged 622,000 total viewers and Late Night with Seth Meyers on NBC drew 609,000 total viewers. However, Meyers was in a week of repeats.

Despite being in repeats, Late Night still led in the demo for its time slot with a 105,000, compared to Nightline‘s 97,000 and After Midnight‘s 95,000.