Colbert Celebrates Post-SOTU Ratings Gain as Trump’s Viewership Falls

Stephen Colbert had reason to celebrate Thursday night.

While viewership for Donald Trump‘s marathon State of the Union speech Tuesday was down compared to last year, ratings for Colbert’s live post-State of the Union episode increased.

According to Nielsen Live+Same Day data, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert grew its total audience by 7%—up from 1,846,000 viewers who tuned in for last year’s live show following the president’s joint address to Congress to 1,968,000 total viewers for this year’s Feb. 24 post-State of the Union broadcast.

Colbert was quick to highlight the contrast on-air, telling viewers that the ratings-obsessed Trump lost 11% of his audience from last year. “Donald Trump is really dragging down broadcast television,” he joked, adding that if he were CBS, “I’d cancel him.”

He then pivoted to his own performance. Despite the conventional wisdom that “linear television is doomed and everyone’s ratings are going down,” Colbert noted that The Late Show was actually up 7% over its post-address broadcast last year. After some mock confusion over the math, he celebrated the bump, concluding that while viewers may not enjoy watching Trump, “they do like watching me not like watching Trump.”

Trump’s 2026 State of the Union is estimated to have drawn 32,644,000 total viewers across broadcast and cable, down from 36,630,000 for last year’s address and well below his first-term average of 44,325,000.

Colbert’s gain came as part of a broader late-night lift.

All of the traditional 11:30 p.m. franchises saw year-over-year growth among total viewers following this year’s speech. Jimmy Kimmel Live! rose 21% to 1,721,000 viewers. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon climbed 16% to 973,000. Late Night with Seth Meyers jumped 31% to 800,000, while The Daily Show increased 15% to 435,000.

Despite Kimmel’s stronger percentage growth, Colbert remained the night’s top-rated late-night host in total viewers, finishing just shy of 2 million in Live+Same Day measurements.

All of those numbers are expected to grow once delayed viewing is factored in, with Live+3 data due in the coming days.

Complete ratings charts for each of the traditional late-night shows—with growth vs. last year—for Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026 follow below. (Note that each of the network shows started a half hour late both years.)

Live+Same Day Ratings – All Viewers (P2+)

Live+ 3 Ratings — In the Demo (P18-49)

Ratings data © The Nielsen Company, used under license.