Note: LateNighter’s daily ratings reports are drawn from Nielsen live-plus-same-day data and do not include delayed and/or streaming views. They are generally posted on a two (business) day delay, which is how they are released by Nielsen.
CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert landed on top of Nielsen late-night ratings charts Thursday December 5, 2024, up a whopping +88% among total viewers and +67% among viewers aged 18-49. That’s compared to the previous Thursday, which saw The Late Show air a repeat against a new (and highly-rated) post-Thanksgiving football edition of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
But what football giveth, a lack of football taketh away, with Thursday night’s Tonight Show crashing by -63% among total viewers and a whopping -87% among viewers in the demo. That was still enough to beat ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! to second place among younger viewers, but not among total viewers, where Kimmel played runner-up to Colbert.
Colbert’s guests Thursday night were Kate McKinnon and Peter Sarsgaard, while Fallon welcomed Angelina Jolie, Sebastian Stan, and Andrew Ridgeley. Kimmel’s lineup featured Billy Eichner, Chris Martin and Dick Van Dyke, and Thee Sacred Souls.
At 12:35 a.m., ABC’s Nightline took the top spot among total viewers (up 44% week-over-week), while After Midnight with Taylor Tomlinson came in first among 18-49 year-olds with an +11% increase vs last week. A repeat of NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers from October 28th came in second among younger viewers, and last among total viewers.
A new episode of The Daily Show hosted by Ronny Chieng with guest Interior Chinatown writer Charles Yu made modest gains among both total viewers and those in the demo versus its most recent Thursday episode (November 21st), which was hosted by Desi Lydic.
Thursday night’s complete ratings charts follow below.
Live+SD ratings (All Viewers 2+)
| Show Name | Avg Share | Avg Viewers | vs last week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11:00 PM | |||
| The Daily Show (CC) | 0.78 | 341,000 | +1% |
| 11:35 PM | |||
| Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC) | 4.32 | 1,283,000 | +34% |
| The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS) | 6.57 | 1,926,000 | +88% |
| The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC) | 3.31 | 963,000 | -63% |
| 12:35 AM | |||
| Nightline (ABC)* | 4.01 | 800,000 | +44% |
| After Midnight (CBS) | 3.66 | 669,000 | +44% |
| Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC) (R 10/28/24) | 3.04 | 563,000 | -57% |
Live+SD ratings (18-49 demo only)
| Show Name | Avg Share | Avg Viewers | vs last week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11:00 PM | |||
| The Daily Show (CC) | 0.70 | 77,000 | +3% |
| 11:35 PM | |||
| Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC) | 1.52 | 99,000 | -30% |
| The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS) | 3.30 | 212,000 | +67% |
| The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC) | 1.68 | 107,000 | -87% |
| 12:35 AM | |||
| Nightline (ABC)* | 1.75 | 70,000 | -9% |
| After Midnight (CBS) | 2.77 | 103,000 | +11% |
| Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC) (R 10/28/24) | 2.05 | 77,000 | -81% |
Ratings Data © The Nielsen Company, used under license.
Where are the ratings for December 16, 17 and 18?