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With Jimmy Kimmel Live! in repeats, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon moved into first place at 11:35 p.m. in both total viewers and adults 18–49 last week—delivering its largest average weekly audience in 20 months.
According to Nielsen Live+3 data, Fallon averaged 1.541 million total nightly viewers the week of July 26, up 9 percent from the previous frame and the show’s best showing since the week of Nov. 18, 2024. It marked the second time this summer that Tonight has won the hour, following another week of first-run Fallon episodes opposite Kimmel repeats during the week of June 21.
Fallon also led the 11:35 p.m. programs in adults 18–49, rising 9 percent to 184,000 viewers. Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which aired five guest-host repeats, fell 32 percent in total viewers to 1.064 million and 31 percent in the demo to 141,000.
Kimmel’s move to repeats also benefited CBS’ Comics Unleashed, which is itself airing repeats through the summer. Its 11:35 p.m. half-hour grew 14 percent to 792,000 total viewers, a larger percentage gain than Fallon posted, though it still finished third in the time period. That represented an increase of roughly 97,000 viewers, compared with Fallon’s gain of about 127,000 and Kimmel’s loss of approximately 501,000.
Across its full hour, Comics Unleashed averaged 672,000 total viewers, up approximately 13 percent week over week, and 63,000 adults 18–49, up about 3 percent.
The gains continued into the second hour of Allen’s CBS block. The two half-hours of Funny You Should Ask averaged 449,000 total viewers, up about 13 percent from the previous week, and 52,000 adults 18–49, an increase of approximately 17 percent.
At 11:00 p.m., Comedy Central’s The Daily Show averaged 1.12 million total nightly viewers, unchanged week to week, while climbing 13 percent among adults 18–49 to 238,000—the largest demo audience among the shows we track. The program aired its final four original episodes before beginning a five-week summer break.
At 12:37 a.m., NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers posted gains in both measures during its final week of original episodes before taking a seven-week hiatus. Meyers averaged 943,000 total viewers, up 2 percent, and 120,000 adults 18–49, up 24 percent.
Without a fresh lead-in from Jimmy Kimmel Live!, ABC’s Nightline fell 19 percent in total viewers to 714,000 and 38 percent in the demo to 70,000.
Earlier in the evening, Fox News’ Gutfeld! (which airs at 10:00 p.m. ET and 7:00 p.m. PT) remained the most-watched program among the shows we track, averaging 2.93 million total viewers and 161,000 adults 18–49, flat in both measures.
Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live averaged 397,000 total viewers, down 6 percent, while growing 7 percent in the demo to 126,000.
Complete ratings charts for the week of July 26, 2026, follow below.
Live+ 3 Ratings — All Viewers (P2+)
| Avg Share (%) | Avg Viewers (000’s) | Vs Last Wk | |
| 10:00 p.m. | |||
| Gutfeld! (FNC)† 5 first-run episodes | 6.93 | 2,930 | 0% |
| Watch What Happens Live (Bravo)* 5 first-run episodes | 0.88 | 397 | -6% |
| 11:00 p.m. | |||
| The Daily Show (COM)* 4 first-run episodes | 3.52 | 1,120 | 0% |
| 11:35 p.m. | |||
| Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC) 5 repeats | 4.26 | 1,064 | -32% |
| The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC) 4 first-run episodes, 1 repeat | 6.30 | 1,541 | +9% |
| Comics Unleashed 1 (CBS)* 5 repeats | 2.98 | 792 | +14% |
| 12:05 a.m. | |||
| Comics Unleashed 2 (CBS)* 5 repeats | 2.59 | 552 | +11% |
| 12:35 a.m. | |||
| Funny You Should Ask 1 (CBS)* 5 repeats | 2.62 | 473 | +11% |
| 12:37 a.m. | |||
| Nightline (ABC)* 5 first-run episodes | 3.93 | 714 | -19% |
| Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC) 4 first-run episodes, 1 repeat | 5.66 | 943 | +2% |
| 1:05 a.m. | |||
| Funny You Should Ask 2 (CBS)* 5 repeats | 2.77 | 425 | +15% |
Live+ 3 Ratings — In the Demo (P18-49)
| US Share (%) | US AA Proj (000’s) | Vs Last Wk | |
| 10:00 p.m. | |||
| Gutfeld! (FNC)† 5 first-run episodes | 2.12 | 161 | 0% |
| Watch What Happens Live (Bravo)* 5 first-run episodes | 1.60 | 126 | +7% |
| 11:00 p.m. | |||
| The Daily Show (COM)* 4 first-run episodes | 4.05 | 238 | +13% |
| 11:35 p.m. | |||
| Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC) 5 repeats | 3.00 | 141 | -31% |
| The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC) 4 first-run episodes, 1 repeat | 3.98 | 184 | +9% |
| Comics Unleashed 1 (CBS)* 5 repeats | 1.47 | 73 | -2% |
| 12:05 a.m. | |||
| Comics Unleashed 2 (CBS)* 5 repeats | 1.31 | 52 | +10% |
| 12:35 a.m. | |||
| Funny You Should Ask 1 (CBS)* 5 repeats | 1.53 | 52 | +11% |
| 12:37 a.m. | |||
| Nightline (ABC)* 5 first-run episodes | 2.04 | 70 | -38% |
| Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC) 4 first-run episodes, 1 repeat | 3.77 | 120 | +24% |
| 1:05 a.m. | |||
| Funny You Should Ask 2 (CBS)* 5 repeats | 1.75 | 52 | +25% |
Ratings data © The Nielsen Company, used under license.
With Colbert gone, and Kimmel repeating episodes with summer guest hosts this week, I’ve found myself tuning into The Tonight Show for the first time in years.
Beautiful set, iconic franchise, killer band… and Jimmy Fallon. Can’t win ’em all, but as much as I don’t care for Fallon as a late night host, I do still enjoy some of his sketch work on the show.
Jimmy has more sheer talent than Colbert and James COMBINED. The ratings are very disheartening. He should never have apologized after having Mr. Trump on.
Fuckface Fallon’s talent is to annoy people with his ‘LOOKIT ME, LUV ME!!!’ brand of pandering and sucking up! There’s a reason he’s alway third in a three way race!
Readers, don’t mind jons over here. He happens to have the worst case of Trump Devotion Syndrome (TDS) I’ve seen on LateNighter. In his simple little mind, “person on TV doesn’t like Trump = not talented” and “person on TV likes Trump or is neutral = talented.” It’s a really sad affliction because I’ve seen a lot of these TDS sufferers end up estranged from friends and family due to their blatant stupidity, fundamental misunderstanding of government, and constant culture war ranting that anyone with a modicum of intelligence can’t stand to be around. We’ll be praying for you, jons. Get well soon!
Jimmy SHOULD be doing WAYYYY better. A late night host must concentrate on making their Late Night show a ratings winner before indulging in other projects. Does anybody else think that both Jimmy and Seth will be toast in 2028?
I kinda of agree with Jay Leno that the necessity of increase the number of ads is killing TV, and not only late night. They need to make it work in formats where there are less ads.
Fast-forward is a blessing.
Achieving the highest viewership…. But only when your biggest competition is either on vacation or screwed over by a spineless network set for its downfall
THAT’S how far Fallon has gone as just the ‘clout-chasing’ guy who wants to be loved by everyone~
He also sucks as an interviewer, too~
Personally, he should’ve followed Seth and Kimmel’s footsteps taking an extended vacation too and using the time in between to polish and improve himself and his show.
Lorne Michaels thinks there’s nothing wrong with his shtick, so he lets him do it! What he sees in that annoying nub is anyone’s guess!
I’m convinced that Fallon must have blackmailed Lorne in order to get the Tonight Show. No other reason makes any sense whatsoever.
He was OK on SNL but should not be hosting a talk show.
Tuesday night’s show, joke about contacting Spectrum customer service, waiting on hold and being told there are eight customers ahead of him had absolutely no basis in fact. Spectrum has excellent customer service both on the phone and for service calls. Clearly Fallon has no experience with either. The joke would have been accurate for FIOS or Verizon, but was completely off base for Spectrum.