Late Night Ratings: Wednesday, Oct. 30, 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.

New day, similar result: CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert out-performed its late night competition in the Nielsen ratings on Wednesday, October 30, finishing No. 1 at 11:35 p.m. both in total viewers and the key P18-49 demographic.

Featuring guests Kieran Culkin, and Ta-Nehisi Coates, Colbert’s Late Show averaged 1,672,000 total viewers with 238,000 P18-49 this past Wednesday, per Nielsen live-plus-same-day data. Despite beating its 11:35 p.m. competition by a substantial margin, The Late Show shed total viewers from the night before (-20%) and the previous Wednesday (-11%). The episode also shed -9% in P18-49 viewers from the night before, but saw an +8% gain from the previous Wednesday.

For the second consecutive night, NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! split second place at 11:35 p.m. Wednesday’s Tonight Show featured guests Selma Hayek Pinault, and David Chang with musical guest Kelsea Ballerini. The episode averaged 1,054,000 total viewers with 153,000 P18-49. Wednesday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! featured guests Eddie Redmayne, and Sheryl Lee Ralph, with musical guest Magdalena Bay. The episode averaged 1,316,000 total viewers with 139,000 P18-49. Fallon shed -7% in total viewers and -12% among P18-49 from the night before, -19% and -30%, respectively, from the previous Wednesday. Kimmel shed -20% in total viewers, and -18% among P18-49 from the night before, but gained +28% in total viewers and +29% in P18-49 viewers from the previous Wednesday’s telecast (a repeat).

It’s worth noting that Game 5 of the 2024 World Series didn’t end until around 12 a.m. ET time, potentially cutting into late-night TV viewing.

Moving to 12:35 a.m., the Wednesday, Oct. 30 episode of NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers averaged a timeslot-high 857,000 total viewers with 123,000 P18-49. That’s up +12% in total viewers and +4% in P18-49 from the previous night’s episode, but down -4% and -14%, respectively, from the previous Wednesday’s episode. Tom Hanks and Ina Garten were Meyers guests on the program.

Airing after The Late Show, After Midnight averaged 518,000 total viewers with a timeslot-high 130,000 P18-49 on CBS. The episode shed -8% in total viewers but gained +16% among P18-49 from the previous night’s episode; shed -8% but gained +2%, respectively, from the previous Wednesday’s episode. Emily Osment, Tien Tran, and Vinny Thomas were guests on the Taylor Tomlinson-led program.

Following Wednesday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, ABC’s Nightline averaged 756,000 total viewers with 97,000 P18-49. That’s a +4% gain in total viewers and +31% gain among P18-49 from the night before, up +18% and +203%, respectively, from the previous Wednesday’s Nightline.

Lastly, guest hosted by Ronny Chieng, the Wednesday, Oct. 30 Daily Show  averaged 486,000 total viewers with 130,000 P18-49, per Nielsen live plus same day data. That’s down -7% in total viewers but up +25% among P18-49 from the night before (also guest hosted by Chieng), up +8% and +55%, respectively, from the previous Wednesday’s Daily Show (guest hosted by Michael Kosta). The Linda Lindas was the show’s musical guest (and only guest).

Wednesday’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.