Here Are Final Late Night Ratings for Q3 2026

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Late night’s third quarter of 2026 was a quiet one, as summer vacations and extended stretches of repeats left several shows with substantially fewer first-run episodes than usual.

The quarter is typically a softer period for television viewing anyway, and against that backdrop, most of late night’s biggest shows lost viewers compared to Q2, according to Nielsen Live+7 ratings data.

At 11:35 p.m., ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! averaged 2.33 million total viewers across 37 first-run episodes, down 15 percent from the previous quarter. The show averaged 255,000 adults 18–49, down 20 percent.

The comparison comes with an especially large asterisk. Kimmel himself was absent for most of the summer, beginning his annual vacation in late June and returning after Labor Day. Eight weeks of guest-hosted episodes aired in his place.

NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, meanwhile, went against the summer trend. Fallon produced 39 first-run episodes during the quarter—more than any of the traditional late-night shows—and appeared to be rewarded for staying on the air. The Tonight Show grew its overall audience by 10 percent from Q2, averaging 1.53 million total viewers nightly.

Those gains didn’t extend to younger viewers, however. Fallon averaged 201,000 adults 18–49, down 5 percent quarter-to-quarter.

At 11 p.m., The Daily Show averaged 1.09 million total viewers, a 7 percent decline from Q2, and 189,000 adults 18–49, down 23 percent. The Comedy Central series’ quarterly averages were based on 28 first-run episodes after the show took a five-week summer hiatus beginning in late July.

Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen moved in the opposite direction.

Bolstered by Bravo’s strong summer reality lineup, Watch What Happens Live averaged 399,000 total viewers, up 21 percent from Q2, and 117,000 adults 18–49, up 15 percent. Both were among the largest quarter-to-quarter gains in late night.

The third quarter also marked the first full quarter for CBS’s new two-hour late-night block of Byron Allen programming, which replaced The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in May.

The 11:35 p.m. edition of Comics Unleashed averaged 788,000 total viewers, down 6 percent from its partial-quarter Q2 average, while its audience among adults 18–49 increased 15 percent to 107,000.

Those numbers warrant some caution, however. Only eight first-run episodes of the 11:35 p.m. show aired during the quarter, all during a two-week stretch in late September.

The all-repeats second half-hour of Comics Unleashed, airing at 12:05 a.m., averaged 553,000 total viewers, down 2 percent from Q2, and 64,000 adults 18–49, down 3 percent.

At 12:35 a.m., Funny You Should Ask averaged 528,000 total viewers, up 14 percent, while its demo audience jumped 46 percent to 86,000. Here, too, the sample of new episodes was especially small: just seven first-run episodes aired during the quarter, all late in September.

The show’s all-repeat 1:05 a.m. edition averaged 418,000 total viewers, up 3 percent, and 52,000 adults 18–49, down 2 percent.

Elsewhere in late night this quarter:

NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers averaged 1.03 million total viewers, up 6 percent from Q2, despite airing just 19 first-run episodes. Its audience among adults 18–49 fell 16 percent to 124,000.

Fox News’s Gutfeld!, which airs at 10 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. PT, produced new installments throughout the summer, averaging 2.63 million total viewers across 61 first-run episodes. That was down 15 percent from Q2. The show averaged 167,000 adults 18–49, a decline of 22 percent.

ABC’s Nightline also continued airing new episodes through the quarter, averaging 899,000 total viewers, down 8 percent, and 110,000 adults 18–49, down 3 percent.

Fox’s FIFA World Cup on FOX After Hours with James Corden carried the final 13 episodes of its run into Q3. The pop-up show, which marked former Late Late Show host James Corden‘s return to late-night TV, averaged 711,000 total viewers, up 13 percent from its Q2 average, and 200,000 adults 18–49, essentially flat with the previous quarter at a 1 percent decline.

Year Over Year (vs. Q3 2025)

Looking only at the seven programs with apples-to-apples comparisons from Q3 2025, the combined audience across LateNighter’s tracked shows grew 5 percent among total viewers and 2 percent among adults 18–49 year-over-year. Six of the seven programs gained total viewers, while five posted increases in both measures.

Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen posted the quarter’s largest year-over-year gains, rising 29 percent in total viewers and 48 percent among adults 18–49.

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! grew 22 percent in total viewers and 2 percent in the demo, while NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon was up 18 percent and 15 percent, respectively.

The Daily Show increased its total audience by 17 percent year-over-year, though its adults 18–49 audience declined 9 percent.

At 12:37 a.m., NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers grew 12 percent in total viewers and 14 percent in the demo, while ABC’s Nightline was up 12 percent and 13 percent, respectively.

Fox News’s Gutfeld! was the only returning program to decline in both measures, falling 19 percent in total viewers and 24 percent among adults 18–49.

A reminder that linear ratings represent only one slice of the viewing audience, with additional viewing taking place on streaming services, YouTube, and other social media platforms.

Complete Q3 2026 ratings charts follow below.

Note: Quarterly ratings averages include only first-run episodes, except in time periods where no first-run episodes air. Time period listed is the most common airtime for each show.

Live+7 Ratings – All Viewers (P2+)

Live+7 Ratings – In the Demo (P18-49)

Ratings data © The Nielsen Company, used under license.