Late Night Ratings: Thursday, October 17, 2024

Note: LateNighter’s late night daily ratings reports are drawn from Nielsen live-plus-same-day data and do not take include delayed and/or streaming views. They are generally posted on a two (business) day delay, which is how they are released by Nielsen.

CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert dominated the late night Nielsen ratings race on Thursday — winning the 11:35 p.m. timeslot both in total viewers and the key P18-49 demographic for the third consecutive night.

The Late Show‘s Thursday, October 17 episode featured Bob Woodward, musical guest Wyatt Flores, and it averaged 2,262,000 total viewers with 252,000 P18-49 at 11:35 p.m., per Nielsen live-plus-same-day data. That’s a solid +21% improvement in total viewers and +12% improvement in P18-49 from the night before, and +81% and +64% respectively, from the previous Thursday’s telecast (a repeat).

Following Colbert was a new 12:35 a.m. episode of After Midnight. Featuring guests Matt Mathews, Guy Branum, and Gillian Jacobs, the Taylor Tomlinson-led program averaged 750,000 total viewers with 126,000 P18-49. That’s up +23% in total viewers and +2% in P18-49 from the previous night’s new episode, +26% and +14%, respectively, from the week-ago telecast (a repeat).

Elsewhere in late night land, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! and NBC’s  The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon split second place at 11:35 p.m. on Thursday. Featuring guests Morgan Freeman, Niecy Nash-Betts and musical guest Brad Paisley, Thursday’s JKL averaged 1,683,000 total viewers with 154,000 P18-49. That’s down -2% in total viewers and -23% in P18-49 from the night before, -17% and -37%, respectively, from the prior Thursday episode. Thursday’s Tonight Show, on the other hand, was a rebroadcast of the Sept. 5, 2024 episode. Featuring Kevin Hart, Paris Hilton and musical guest Miranda Lambert, the telecast averaged only 972,000 total viewers with 155,000 P18-49 this past Thursday. That’s down -20% in total viewers and -18% in P18-49 from the night before, -17% and -4%, respectively, from the week-ago Tonight Show (a new episode).

NBC re-aired Late Night with Seth Meyers‘ Sept. 23, 2024 episode following Fallon. Featuring guests Michael Bublé, and Leanne Morgan, the rebroadcast averaged just 617,000 total viewers with 121,000 P18-49 on Thursday. That’s down -19% in total viewers and -25% in P18-49 from the night before (also a repeat), -30% and -9%, respectively, from the previous Thursday’s Late Night (a new episode).

Following Kimmel, the Thursday, Oct. 17 edition of ABC’s Nightline averaged 874,000 total viewers with only 70,000 P18-49 at 12:35 a.m. That’s up +10% in total viewers but -39% among P18-49 from the night before, -11% and -44%, respectively, from the previous Thursday’s episode.

Desi Lydic wrapped up her week as The Daily Show guest host by averaging 531,000 total viewers with 83,000 P18-49 this past Thursday. That’s up +20% in total viewers but down -14% in P18-49 viewers from the previous night’s episode, +22% and -15%, respectively, from the previous Thursday’s episode (hosted by Jordan Klepper). Journalist and podcast host Kara Swisher was Lydic’s guest on the program.

Thursday’s complete ratings charts follow below.

Live+SD ratings (All Viewers 2+)

Live+SD ratings (18-49 demo only)

Ratings data © The Nielsen Company, used under license.