Note: LateNighter’s late night daily ratings reports are drawn from Neilsen 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.
After more than a week of repeats, it was back to work for each of the network late-night shows on Tuesday, and it wasn’t just any night–it was season premiere night.
As one might expect, ratings were up for most of the shows.
CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert took the night’s top spot, with a larger-than-usual audience of 2,066,000 total viewers tuning in for Colbert’s first-ever interview with sitting Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. That’s a 45% week-over-week increase compared to last Tuesday’s telecast, which was a repeat.
Coming in second with 1,267,000 total viewers (+48% from last Tuesday) was ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, whose return to his namesake show after a summer off made headlines thanks to a madcap catch-up monologue and special guest Billie Eilish. NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon pulled up the rear with 1,084,000 total viewers, up +8% week-over-week. Fallon’s guests Tuesday night were Taraji P. Henson, Katie Ledecky, and Tierra Whack.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! likely has Billie Eilish to thank for its +55% week-over-week growth among viewers aged 18-49. Kimmel drew a total of 203,000 viewers in the advertiser-coveted demo, but it wasn’t enough to beat Colbert’s 217,000 (up +40%). Fallon came in third, with 143,000 viewers (down -17.82 %).
The 12:35 a.m. hour saw NBC and CBS swap places as Late Night with Seth Meyers took the No. 1 spot with 790,000 total viewers (+25% vs last week). ABC’s Nightline came in second with 735,000 ( +22 week-over-week), while CBS’ After Midnight with Taylor Tomlinson, which introduced a series of format tweaks Tuesday night, came in third with 663,000 total views, a +42% gain over last Tuesday.
The same overall pattern held at 12:35 a.m. among viewers 18-49, albeit with just seven thousand viewers separating the Meyers (113,000 viewers, -3% vs last week) from Nightline (109,000, +18%) and After Midnight (106,000, +89%)
Comedy Central’s The Daily Show is on hiatus this week and did not air on Monday.
Tuesday’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! | 1,267,000 | 4.61 |
| CBS | The Late Show With Stephen Colbert | 2,066,000 | 7.55 |
| NBC | The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon | 1,084,000 | 4.00 |
| 12:35 AM | |||
| ABC | *Nightline | 735,000 | 3.60 |
| CBS | After Midnight | 663,000 | 3.51 |
| NBC | Late Night with Seth Meyers | 790,000 | 4.17 |
(R) = Rebroadcast
Live+SD ratings (18-49 demo only)
| Network | Show Name | Total Viewers | % Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11:35 PM | |||
| ABC | Jimmy Kimmel Live! | 203,000 | 3.65 |
| CBS | The Late Show With Stephen Colbert | 217,000 | 3.93 |
| NBC | The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon | 143,000 | 2.62 |
| 12:35 AM | |||
| ABC | *Nightline | 109,000 | 2.52 |
| CBS | After Midnight | 106,000 | 2.61 |
| NBC | Late Night with Seth Meyers | 113,000 | 2.77 |
(R) = Rebroadcast
Ratings data © The Nielsen Company, used under license.
