Note: LateNighter generally posts late night daily ratings on a two (business) day delay, which is how they are released by Nielsen.
CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ruled the roost last Friday as most of late night ran encore episodes leading into the long Labor Day weekend.
A repeat of Colbert’s August 14th episode (featuring guests Alex Wagner and Ali Macofsky) averaged 1,241,000 total viewers per Nielsen live-plus-same-day data. That’s down -10% from the same night a week ago, and +2% versus a night earlier.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! came in second with a repeat of its RuPaul-hosted August 19th episode, featuring guests Maya Rudolph, Nymphia Wind, Sapphira Cristál, Plane Jane and Tommy Richman. Friday’s rebroadcast drew an average of 968,000 total viewers, up 8% from Thursday, and +4% week-over-week. The Tonight Show, which aired a repeat of its August 19th episode with guest Michael Keaton, came in third with 819,000 total viewers, down -17% compared to the previous night, and -18% versus a week earlier.
Among those in the 18-49 demo, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert again took top honors, with 164,000 viewers, a 12% gain over Thursday night, but a 8% drop week-over-week. Battling it out for second place in the demo, NBC’s Jimmy Fallon drew 113,000 viewers, edging out ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 112,000.
With the rest of late night in repeats, a new pop-culture themed episode of Nightline managed to score a rare victory at 12:35 a.m., at least as far as viewer averages go. (The half-hour ABC News series is at an advantage compared to its hour-long competitors, whose viewer averages factor include their second half hour, which stretches well beyond 1 a.m.)
Friday’s Nightline drew 615,000 total viewers , up 9% from the night before, but down 6% week-over-week. Late Night With Seth Meyers came in second (with 504,000 total viewers), edging out After Midnight (which drew 481,000 total viewers).
It was a similar story among viewers 18-49, with Nightline drawing 89,000 viewers (up 10% from Thursday, but down 34% over last Friday’s episode). Late Night, which aired a repeat of its August 21st episode featuring guests Channing Tatum and Sabrina Ionescu, came in second, with 85,000 viewers. That was enough to beat a repeat of After Midnight‘s rebroadcast of its July 22nd episode, which drew 77,000 viewers in the demo.
Friday’s complete ratings charts follow below.
Live+SD ratings (All Viewers 2+)
| Network | Show Name | Total Viewers | % Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11:35 PM | |||
| ABC | Jimmy Kimmel Live! (R, 8/19/24) | 968,000 | 3.36 |
| CBS | The Late Show With Stephen Colbert (R, 8/14/24) | 1,241,000 | 4.34 |
| NBC | The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (R, 8/19/24) | 819,000 | 2.88 |
| 12:35 AM | |||
| ABC | *Nightline | 615,000 | 2.83 |
| CBS | After Midnight (R, 7/22/24) | 481,000 | 2.37 |
| NBC | Late Night with Seth Meyers (R, 8/21/24) | 504,000 | 2.48 |
(R) = Rebroadcast
Live+SD ratings (18-49 demo only)
| Network | Show Name | Viewers | % Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11:35 PM | |||
| ABC | Jimmy Kimmel Live! (R, 8/19/24 ) | 112,000 | 1.80 |
| CBS | The Late Show With Stephen Colbert (R, 8/14/24) | 164,000 | 2.65 |
| NBC | The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (R, 8/19/24) | 113,000 | 1.84 |
| 12:35 AM | |||
| ABC | *Nightline | 89,000 | 1.79 |
| CBS | After Midnight (R, 7/22/24) | 77,000 | 1.64 |
| NBC | Late Night with Seth Meyers (R, 8/21/24) | 85,000 | 1.81 |
(R) = Rebroadcast
Ratings data © The Nielsen Company, used under license.
