
First on LateNighter: Jason Kelce‘s ESPN late-night series hit a new ratings low in its most recent airing last Friday night, drawing only 110,00 total viewers, per Nielsen live-plus-same-day ratings data.
That’s less than a third of the audience it drew just a week ago, and a whopping 87% decrease vs its ratings high on January 10th.
Ratings were also down among younger viewers, with just 51,000 viewers aged 18-49 tuning in–a decrease of 67% vs last week, and again down 87% from its ratings high earlier this month.
Kelce’s guests Friday were Jameis Winston, Jim Gaffigan, and Ryan Clark.
But those numbers don’t tell the full story. In fact, a direct line fan be drawn from the show’s huge ratings swings to the number of viewers already tuned into ESPN on a given Friday night.
For example, the show’s direct lead-in on January 25th was ESPN’s X Games coverage, which drew an average audience of 244,000 total viewers. On January 10th (the night of Kelce’s ratings high), more than 20 million viewers watched the Goodyear Cotton Bowl earlier in the evening, with 1.6 million sticking around for his direct lead-in, an episode of SportsCenter.
Also worth considering: airing as it does at 1am, from the outset the show was intended to be viewed at multiple times and on multiple platforms, including ESPN+, Kelce’s YouTube channel, and a Saturday morning re-airing on ESPN2. In other words, Kelce’s first-run broadcast numbers aren’t necessarily the be-all end-all for ESPN.
In a New York Times profile last week, ESPN’s president of content Burke Magnus sounded optimistic about the show’s future. “For me, it’s going to be a little bit more art than science,” Magnus told The Times. “Do people think it’s good and funny? Does it have the potential to grow?”
They Call it Late Night with Jason Kelce is set to air the last episode of its five-week tryout this Friday, January 31.
Complete season-to-date Nielsen ratings charts for They Call It Late Night With Jason Kelce follow below:
Live+SD Ratings – All Viewers (P2+)
Date | Avg Viewers | Avg Share |
---|---|---|
1/03/25 | 290,000 | 1.31% |
1/10/25 | 881,000 | 3.65% |
1/17/25 | 356,000 | 1.63% |
1/24/25 | 110,000 | 0.52% |
Live+SD Ratings – In the Demo (P18-49)
Date | Avg Viewers | Avg Share |
---|---|---|
1/03/25 | 231,000 | 1.08% |
1/10/25 | 382,000 | 6.72% |
1/17/25 | 143,000 | 2.97% |
1/24/25 | 51,000 | 1.14% |
Ratings Data © The Nielsen Company, used under license.
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over exposure! Take a break my dude
I can’t stay up late but I watch it on you tube and I think it’s been good
I loved the show. I think Jason got better with each show. The last show was fantastic. I hope there is a second season.