July 2025 Ratings: Colbert’s Late Show Hits Four-Year High

Note: LateNighter generally posts late night live-plus-seven monthly ratings on a seven (business) day delay, which is how they are released by Nielsen.

First on LateNighter: July’s late-night ratings featured one big winner—Stephen Colbert—and a sharp reversal of fortune for ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! after its NBA-boosted June.

At 11:35 PM, CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert averaged 2.999 million total viewers across 11 first-run episodes, a 29% gain from June and the show’s highest monthly audience since February 2021. Colbert’s ratings, as we’ve reported, have soared in the days and weeks following his July 17th announcement that CBS has cancelled The Late Show after the coming 2025-26 season.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! fell hard in July, dropping 30% to 1.236 million viewers, after an especially strong showing in June that saw the show benefit from several highly-rated NBA finals lead-ins. (With Kimmel on himself vacation, the show was helmed by a series of guest hosts throughout the month.)

NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, meanwhile, held flat at 1.135 million.

In the 18–49 demo, Colbert again posted the month’s biggest growth, up 44% to 279,000 viewers. Fallon rose 9% to 163,000, while Kimmel plunged 47% to 151,000—the ABC show’s lowest demo delivery in nearly a year.

Comedy Central’s The Daily Show saw only slight month-to-month movement, slipping 1% in total viewers to 1.025 million and down 3% in the demo to 210,000.

At 12:37 AM, NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers was flat in total viewers (889,000) and up 8% in the demo to 109,000. ABC’s Nightline dipped 16% in viewers (715,000) and 32% in the demo (90,000).

At 10 PM, Fox News’s Gutfeld! retained its commanding lead, averaging 3.212 million viewers (down 4%) and 231,000 in the demo (down 11%). Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live climbed 8% in total viewers to 325,000 and gained 3% in the demo to 72,000.

Complete ratings charts for July 2025 follow below.

Note: Monthly ratings averages include only first-run episodes. Time period listed is most common airtime for show.

Live+ 7 Ratings — All Viewers (P2+)

Live+ 7 Ratings — In the Demo (P18-49)

Ratings data © The Nielsen Company, used under license.