Weekly Ratings: Late-Night Shows See Post-Election Declines

Note: LateNighter generally posts late night weekly live-plus-three ratings on a three (business) day delay, which is how they are released by Nielsen.

Though they didn’t take nearly the drubbing that MSNBC and CNN took in the days after Donald Trump’s re-election, each of the 11:35 p.m. and 12:35 a.m. network late-night shows saw ratings declines in the first full week of shows since the election.

CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert remained at the top of the pack, both in total viewers and among P18-49, for the fifth consecutive week.

The Late Show averaged 2,048,000 total viewers with 218,000 P18-49 viewers or the week of Nov. 11, per Nielsen live-plus-three-day data. That’s -12% in total viewers and -18% in P18-49 from the week prior (week of Nov. 4, 2024); -12% and unchanged, respectively, from the year-ago week (Nov. 13-17, 2023). The Late Show aired four new episodes this past week (Monday-Thursday), and a Friday rebroadcast.

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! and NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon split second place at 11:35 p.m., with Kimmel averaging 1,714,000 total viewers with 170,000 P18-49. That’s down -4% in total viewers and -19% in P18-49 from the week prior, +5% and -27%, respectively, from the year-ago week. The Tonight Show, meanwhile, averaged 1,189,000 total viewers with 185,000 P18-49. That’s -3% in total viewers and -13% in P18-49 from the week before, -10% and -21%, respectively, from the year-ago week. Both Kimmel and Fallon presented new episodes on Monday-Thursday and a Friday rebroadcast.

Hitting fast forward to 12:35, NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers averaged 922,000 total viewers with 144,000 P18-49 over five telecasts (four new episodes) for the week of Nov. 11. That’s down -3% in total viewers and -5% in P18-49 from election week, +6% and -4%, respectively, from the year-ago week.

CBS’ After Midnight with Taylor Tomlinson averaged 628,000 total viewers with 130,000 P18-49 for the week of Nov. 11. That’s -12% in total viewers and -14% in P18-49 from the week prior. After Midnight‘s week of Nov. 11 Nielsen ratings averages come from four new episodes (Monday-Thursday) and a Friday rebroadcast.

ABC’s Nightline averaged 893,000 total viewers with 100,000 P18-49 for the week of Nov. 11. That’s -1% in total viewers and -16% in P18-49 from the week prior, -3% and -38%, respectively, from the year-ago week.

Comedy Central’s The Daily Show averaged 922,000 total viewers with 181,000 P18-49 for the week of Nov. 11, per Nielsen live-plus-three data. That’s down -7% in total viewers and -9% among P18-49 from election week, +90% and +72%, respectively, from the year-ago week (before Jon Stewart returned to the program). It’s worth noting that all four Daily Show episodes for the week of Nov. 11 aired on Comedy Central, whereas the previous Tuesday, Nov. 5 Election Night special aired across several Paramount-owned cable networks, giving that week’s Daily Show ratings a boost.

The week’s complete ratings charts follow below.

Weekly live+3 ratings (Viewers 2+)

Weekly live+3 ratings (P18-49 Demo)

Ratings Data © The Nielsen Company, used under license.