Late Night Ratings: Thursday, September 26, 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 its late-night counterparts for the second consecutive night, with the show winning its 11:35 p.m. timeslot on Thursday both in total viewers (2,042,000) and among P18-49 (265,000).

Despite first place finishes in the aforementioned audience measurements, the Thursday, September 26 Late Show actually shed viewers from the night before (Wednesday, Sept. 25), down -3% and -4%, respectively. Relative to the previous Thursday’s episode (Thursday, Sept. 19), however, the Sept. 26 Late Show gained +4% in total viewers and +14% in P18-49. Sarah Silverman was Colbert’s guest on Thursday night, and Chris Stapleton was the musical guest.

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! took second place at 11:35 p.m. on Thursday. Featuring guests Earvin “Magic” Johnson, and Joshua Jackson (along with musical guest Myles Smith), Kimmel’s Sept. 26 show averaged 1,570,000 total viewers with 174,000 P18-49. That represents a +13% improvement in total viewers, but a -3% drop-off in P18-49 from the night before; +16% and +12% gains, respectively, from the Thursday prior.

NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon finished third in the 11:35 p.m. timeslot this past Thursday, having averaged 1,001,000 total viewers with 170,000 P18-49. That’s down -27% in total viewers and -15% among P18-49 from the night before; -3% but +7%, respectively, from the Thursday prior. Cate Blanchett, and Marcello Hernández were Fallon’s guests, and Nick Griffin performed stand-up on the Thursday, Sept. 26 episode.

Following Thursday’s Kimmel, ABC’s Nightline won the 12:35 a.m. timeslot, averaging 953,000 total viewers with 133,000 P18-49 at 12:35 a.m. That’s up +17% in total viewers and +17% among P18-49 from the night before; up +32% and +71%, respectively, from the previous Thursday’s episode.

Featuring guests Aubrey Plaza, and Chloe Fineman, the Sept. 26 Late Night with Seth Meyers averaged 759,000 total viewers and 117,000 P18-49 on NBC. That’s -10% in total viewers and -11% among P18-49 from the night before; but up +6% and +24%, respectively, from the previous Thursday’s episode.

The Sept. 26 After Midnight hosted by Taylor Tomlinson averaged 744,000 total viewers with 104,000 P18-49. That’s up +7% in total viewers, but down -24% among P18-49 from the night before; up +32% but -13%, respectively, from the previous Thursday. Raanan Hershberg, Sarah Tiana, Orlando Leyba were guests on CBS’ late night game show.

The Sept. 26 Daily Show was guest hosted by Desi Lydic, with director Susanna Fogel joining as guest on the Comedy Central program. The episode averaged 444,000 total viewers with 106,000 P18-49. That’s up +19% in total viewers and +89% among P18-49 from the previous night’s episode (an abnormally low-rated one also guest hosted by Lydic). Thursday’s episode shed -5% in total viewers but gained +63% among P18-49 from the previous Thursday’s episode (guest-hosted by Ronny Chieng).

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.