Note: LateNighter generally posts late night quarterly live-plus-seven quarterly ratings on a seven (business) day delay, which is how they are released by Nielsen.
After a strong fourth quarter of 2024, late-night ratings came tumbling back down to earth the first three months of 2025, with seven of the nine shows we track shedding viewers. In fact—strictly speaking—the only shows in positive territory for the quarter aren’t actually late-night shows (since both air before 11pm): Gutfeld! and Watch What Happens Live.
As we’ve previously reported, Q1 saw Greg Gutfeld‘s Fox News program log its highest ratings ever, growing its nightly average by 14% among total viewers and 9% among viewers in the key 18-49 demographic compared to Q4 2024. Andy Cohen and Bravo also had reason to celebrate, with Watch What Happens Live up 5% among all viewers and 3% among younger viewers.
At 11:35pm, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert once again took the top spot, with Jimmy Kimmel Live! coming in second among total viewers and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon edging out Kimmel among viewers in the demo. Compared to Q4, all three 11:35pm shows saw similar decreases of -7 to -8% among total viewers; things were less even among younger viewers, with Fallon down -14%, Colbert slidding -17%, and Kimmel posting the greatest losses at -24%.
In the late-late slot at 12:37am, NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers took the top prize across both key ratings measurements, while Nightline and After Midnight with Taylor Tomlinson split second place, with the ABC News show drawing more total viewers and the Taylor Tomlinson-hosted CBS show drawing more viewers in the demo. Like their lead-ins, all three shows in the late-late slot shed a similar percentage of total viewers (between -8 and -9%) vs Q4; among younger viewers Meyers fared the best at -8%, while Nightline was down -28% and After Midnight was down -30%.
For its part, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show saw only modest losses for the quarter, down -1% among total viewers, and down -2% among viewers in the demo.
Complete ratings charts for Q1 2025 follow below.
Note: Quarterly ratings averages include only first-run episodes. Time period listed is most common airtime for show.
Live+ 7 Ratings — All Viewers (P2+)
| Avg Share (%) | Avg Viewers (000’s) | Vs Last Qtr | |
| 10:00 PM | |||
| Gutfeld! (FNC)† 57 first-run episodes | 7.45 | 3,609 | 14% |
| Watch What Happens Live (Bravo) 55 first-run episodes | 0.81 | 406 | 5% |
| 11:00 PM | |||
| The Daily Show (COM)* 41 first-run episodes | 2.83 | 1,015 | -1% |
| 11:35 PM | |||
| Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC) 42 first-run episodes | 6.65 | 1,821 | -7% |
| The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS) 42 first-run episodes | 8.80 | 2,394 | -8% |
| The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC) 45 first-run episodes | 4.42 | 1,210 | -8% |
| 12:37 PM | |||
| Nightline (ABC) * 61 first-run episodes | 4.07 | 841 | -9% |
| After Midnight (CBS) 31 first-run episodes | 3.47 | 647 | -8% |
| Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC) 32 first-run episodes | 4.91 | 938 | -8% |
Live+ 7 Ratings — In the Demo (P18-49)
| Avg Share (%) | Avg Viewers (000’s) | Vs Last Qtr | |
| 10:00 PM | |||
| Gutfeld! (FNC)† 57 first-run episodes | 3.27 | 304 | 9% |
| Watch What Happens Live (Bravo) 55 first-run episodes | 1.25 | 122 | 3% |
| 11:00 PM | |||
| The Daily Show (COM)* 41 first-run episodes | 2.73 | 194 | -2% |
| 11:35 PM | |||
| Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC) 42 first-run episodes | 3.18 | 178 | -24% |
| The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS) 42 first-run episodes | 4.28 | 237 | -17% |
| The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC) 45 first-run episodes | 3.20 | 180 | -14% |
| 12:37 PM | |||
| Nightline (ABC) * 61 first-run episodes | 2.22 | 98 | -28% |
| After Midnight (CBS) 31 first-run episodes | 2.73 | 108 | -30% |
| Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC) 32 first-run episodes | 3.43 | 140 | -8% |
Ratings data © The Nielsen Company, used under license.
People who watch Gutfeld are ones who eat out of a toilet!
I guess everybody’s eating out of the toilet. Cause once again he has the highest ratings of all the late night shows!
And, as a huge toilet eater, you must be very proud of yourself of dragging America’s intelligence and cultural refinement down the sewer, imbecile!
Well, that puts “Gutfeld” number “1” in late night tv and just so you know, I’m 70 yrs young and I love watching “Gutfeld and his merry band of folks
same here
Yes, the world already knows you’re retarded!
Because you have a sub zero IQ and you think Drumpf is your daddy, Karen! (what an appropriate name!)
Gutfeld still leads the late night shows and its cable not network. Great show funny and thought provoking.
For loser amoebas, like you, stupid!
You’re a hateful little c*nt. No matter, your kind will once again be pushed into hiding under those rocks that once kept you safe. Weak little man.
You’re not crying hard enough for me, Crab Smasher! Tell me what you really think of me, now that I’m living inside your head, rent free!🦀😈
One day someone will be able to look at this trend and understand Americans are fed up with the left and their propaganda machine.
I used to look forward to Jimmy Fallon… but now even he’s drunk with the liberal rhetoric! Kimmel and Colbert need to read the tea leaves… They’re all in the minority now and maybe losing money is what they’re intending…
One day, you MAGAtards are going to realize that everything you all believed in was a big fat lie, and that you’re going to take a very hard look at yourselves and find out you’ve led a loser life.
And the whole lot of ya’s are just finding that out now!
Enjoy living your days as a pariah, filth!
Unwatchable