NBC’s post–Opening Ceremony edition of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon delivered a healthy ratings boost for NBC late night Friday, February 6, drawing an average 2.37 million total viewers and 417,000 viewers in the demo.
That’s more than double the show’s audience on a typical Friday night, and marked The Tonight Show‘s most-watched telecast since November 27, 2025, when it aired following an NFL Thanksgiving broadcast, drawing 2.47 million viewers.
According to NBC, it was was also up 14 percent in total viewers compared to the episode that followed the Opening Ceremonies of the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The episode followed NBC’s live coverage of the Opening Ceremony of the 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina and marked The Tonight Show’s first original Friday-night broadcast since the show scaled back to four nights a week in 2024.
Guests for the night included Chris Hemsworth, MrBeast, and musical guest Lil Uzi Vert, with surprise appearances by Drew Barrymore and Nick Jonas, along with a return appearance by Fallon’s “Westminster Thrust Ensemble”, which performed the Olympic anthem, “Bugler’s Dream.”
The episode also made headlines after MrBeast gave every member of Fallon’s studio audience $1,000, contributing to 101 million-plus social impressions for content from the episode.
The night’s strong performance followed NBC’s strategy of pairing Fallon with major sports programming. In recent months, the show has aired special editions following Sunday Night Football and NBA coverage, part of NBC’s broader effort to capitalize on high-profile live events.
The Tonight Show‘s February 6 broadcast preceded a two-week hiatus for NBC’s late-night lineup, as the network has turned its focus fully on Winter Olympics coverage.
Below is a list of The Tonight Show‘s ten most-watched episodes since September 2024:
Live+ 3 Ratings — All Viewers (P2+)
| Rank | Date (Notes) | Avg Viewers (000’s) | Avg Share (%) |
| 1 | 11/28/24 (Post-NFL Thanksgiving Game) | 3,149 | 13.72 |
| 2 | 9/06/24 (Post-NFL Kick-Off Game) | 2,910 | 14.23 |
| 3 | 11/27/25 (Post-NFL Thanksgiving Game) | 2,472 | 14.46 |
| 4 | 9/04/25 (Post-NFL Kick-Off Game) | 2,440 | 16.86 |
| 5 | 2/06/26 (Post-Olympics Opening Ceremony) | 2,370 | 8.06 |
| 6 | 8/07/25 (Greg Gutfeld guests) | 2,364 | 9.88 |
| 7 | 10/06/25 (Taylor Swift guests) | 2,268 | 8.79 |
| 8 | 9/21/25 (Post-Sunday Night Football) | 2,259 | 12.88 |
| 9 | 12/07/2025 (Post-Sunday Night Football) | 2,231 | 13.10 |
| 10 | 11/17/24 (Post-Sunday Night Football) | 2,022 | 10.34 |
Ratings data © The Nielsen Company, used under license.
Slight correction. The Thrust Ensemble played the Leo Arnaud’s “Bugler’s Dream”, the song that was incorporated and arranged into the beginning of John Williams’ “Olympic Fanfare and Theme”.
Fard, thank you! Will fix…