2025 Ratings: Late-Night TV’s Biggest Winners and Losers

First on LateNighter: Nielsen Live+7 late-night ratings data for the 2025 calendar year are in, and while the topline numbers point to a year of relative stability for late night overall, a closer look reveals isolated bright spots amid broader erosion, particularly among younger viewers.

Only two shows among those LateNighter tracks managed to post year-over-year growth across both total viewers and the key adults 18–49 demographic: ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Fox News’ Gutfeld!. At 11:35pm, Jimmy Kimmel Live! was the lone network late-night show to grow its audience, finishing the year up 14% among total viewers and 4% in the demo.

Gutfeld!, which airs earlier at 10pm ET (7pm PT), also posted gains in both categories, growing its total audience by 21% and edging up 2% in the demo. Measured by sheer audience size, the late-night-styled Fox News program again finished the year as the most-watched show among those we track, though its earlier time slot continues to complicate direct comparisons with the network talk shows that air later in the night.

Two other shows managed to post growth in one of the two key measurements, with ABC’s Nightline increasing its total audience year-over-year, rising 4% among viewers 2+, while Comedy Central’s The Daily Show posted gains in the 18–49 demo, finishing the year up 4% among younger viewers.

For the rest of the late-night field, 2025 was a year of decline. Every other show tracked by LateNighter lost audience year-over-year in both total viewers and the demo, extending a trend that has increasingly defined the late-night landscape over the last decade.

The declines were most pronounced in the 12:37am slot, where CBS’s After Midnight ended its two-season run in mid-June, finishing the year down 8% among total viewers and a steep 42% in the demo. NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers also posted year-over-year losses in both categories.

At 11:35pm, both CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ended 2025 below their 2024 averages, with especially sharp drops in the demo, underscoring the continued challenge network late night faces in attracting and retaining younger viewers.

In aggregate, the late-night ecosystem was remarkably steady in terms of total audience. The average nightly viewership across all shows tracked by LateNighter was essentially flat year-over-year, averaging 13.025 million viewers in 2025 compared to 13.056 million in 2024. The same can’t be said for the demo, where combined 18–49 viewership fell 17%, declining from roughly 1.8 million viewers in 2024 to 1.5 million in 2025.

As always, Nielsen’s ratings reflect only linear television viewing and do not include audiences watching late-night programming on streaming platforms or engaging with clips on social media.

Complete ratings charts for the year ending Dec 31, 2025 follow below.

Note: LateNighter’s annual ratings averages include only first-run episodes. Time period listed is most common airtime for show.

Live+ 7 Ratings — All Viewers (P2+)

Live+ 7 Ratings — In the Demo (P18-49)

Ratings data © The Nielsen Company, used under license.