Late Night Ratings: Thursday, March 28, 2024

Note: LateNighter generally posts late night daily ratings on a two (business) day delay, which is how they are released by Nielsen.

Nielsen live-plus-same-day data for Thursday, March 28, 2024 is in, and it shows NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert splitting first place in the late-night TV ratings.

Thursday’s broadcast of The Late Show was a repeat of its Feb. 27, 2024 episode, and it aired from 12:48-1:35 a.m. ET due to the network’s late NCAA March Madness coverage. The repeat airing averaged 1,260,000 average total viewers. That’s -40% from the day before (when the show aired an original episode in its usual 11:35 p.m. timeslot), but up +25% from the previous Thursday’s Late Show airing, which was a Feb. 13, 2024 repeat also delayed by March Madness coverage. The Feb. 27 Late Show repeat airing on Thursday actually averaged the most P18-49 viewers of any late-night show (347,000), with the demo audience driven by the network’s March Madness lead-in. The 347,000 viewer average is +63% from the day before and up +12% from the prior Thursday’s airing.

Unlike its ABC and CBS competition, NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon aired another original episode this past Thursday. The program dropped back to second place in the key P18-49 demo (190,000), but finished ahead of CBS in total viewers (1,378,000). The Tonight Show’s 190,000 P18-49 viewer average is -36% from the day before, and -16% from the Thursday before. Its 1,378,000 total viewer average is -19% from the day before, and -12% from the Thursday before.

Thursday’s edition of The Tonight Show featured guest appearances from Zoe Saldaña, Neal Brennan, and MAX.

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! was dark last week. The program aired a repeat of its March 19, 2024 episode this past Thursday at 11:35 p.m., but did not submit Nielsen data for the telecast.

NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers averaged 820,000 total viewers and 143,000 P18-49 viewers in its regular 12:37 a.m. timeslot. That’s -17% in total viewers and -13% in P18-49 viewers from the show’s monster Wednesday performance. Late Night gained +3% in total viewers and +12% in P18-49 viewers from the previous Thursday’s Late Night with Seth Meyers telecast, which was a repeat of its Jan. 24, 2024 episode.

Liam Neeson, Sheryl Crow, and Kaz Rodriguez were Meyers’ guests on Thursday’s episode of Late Night.

ABC News’ Nightline aired an original episode this past Thursday at 12:37 a.m. It averaged 796,000 total viewers and 97,000 P18-49 viewers. That’s up +6% in total viewers but -30% in P18-49 viewers from the prior day’s episode, -4% in total viewers and -29% in P18-49 viewers from the most recent Thursday episode.

Similar to its lead-in, CBS’ After Midnight posted growth in P18-49 viewers this past Thursday, despite airing a repeat of its Jan. 22, 2024 episode. The episode, which aired from 1:50-2:45 a.m. ET on Thursday, averaged 198,000 P18-49 viewers and 664,000 total viewers. That’s up +19% in total viewers and up +108% in P18-49 viewers from the day before (an original episode). There was no Nielsen data submitted for the Thursday, March 21, 2024 airing of After Midnight, which was a repeat of the show’s Jan. 30, 2024 episode.

Jordan Klepper wrapped up his week as Daily Show host on Thursday. His Thursday, March 28 episode averaged a solid 477,000 total viewers and 114,000 P18-49 viewers, per live-plus-same-day data. That’s up +15% in total viewers and +36% in P18-49 viewers from the previous night’s episode. The Daily Show was dark the Thursday before and aired a rerun of its March 11 episode.

Iconic musician Huey Lewis joined Klepper on the March 28 edition of The Daily Show.

Live+SD ratings (18-49 demo only)

(R) = Repeat

© The Nielsen Company, used under license.

Live+SD ratings (All Viewers 2+)

(R) = Repeat

© The Nielsen Company, used under license.