Note: LateNighter generally posts late night live-plus-three weekly ratings on a three (business) day delay, which is how they are released by Nielsen.
Donald Trump‘s second inauguration and the busy news days that followed it ending up benefitting two shows on opposite sides of the political spectrum, as both The Daily Show on Comedy Central and Gutfeld! on Fox News saw double digit gains across both key ratings measures the week of January 19, 2025.
As we’ve previously reported, all four new episodes of Greg Gutfeld‘s Fox News show last week ended up ranking among his top ten highest rated episodes of all time, with the week’s average coming in at just over 4 million total viewers nightly, an increase over the week prior of +16%. The show saw even greater gains among viewers in the key 18-49 demo, where it was up +27% for the week.
For its part, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show weekly average grew to just over one million total viewers, and 217,000 viewers aged 18-49, representing a week-over-week increase of +22% and +29% respectively. (Monday night’s post-inauguration episode hosted by Jon Stewart logged 1.65 million total viewers, ranking as the show’s highest rated episode since then-VP candidate Tim Walz guested on the show last October.)
At 11:35pm, both NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! saw their average nightly ratings for the week dip across both ratings measurements, while first-place finisher The Late Show with Stephen Colbert grew by +7% among total viewers and +6% among younger viewers.
Fast-forwarding to 12:37am, ABC’s Nightline and Late Night with Seth Meyers shared top honors, with Nightline nabbing the most total viewers, while Meyers took home the prize in the demo. CBS’s After Midnight with Taylor Tomlinson, which aired only three new episodes for the week (vs five for Nightline and four for Meyers) trailed the pack.
After seeing less than stellar results the week prior, Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live came roaring back, growing its weekly average among total viewers by +25%, and +43% among younger viewers.
Complete ratings charts for the week of January 19th, 2025 follow below.
Note: Time period listed is most common airtime for show.
Live+ 3 Ratings — All Viewers (P2+)
| Avg Share (%) | Avg Viewers (000’s) | Vs Last Wk | |
| 10:00 PM | |||
| Gutfeld! (FNC)† 4 first-run episodes | 8.41 | 4,094 | +16% |
| Watch What Happens Live (Bravo)* 5 first-run episodes | 0.83 | 432 | +25% |
| 11:00 PM | |||
| The Daily Show (COM)* 4 first-run episodes | 2.65 | 1,030 | +22% |
| 11:35 PM | |||
| Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC) 4 first-run episodes, 1 repeat | 6.03 | 1,757 | -6% |
| The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS) 4 first-run episodes, 1 repeat | 7.10 | 2,054 | +7% |
| The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC) 4 first-run episodes, 1 repeat | 3.91 | 1,120 | -3% |
| 12:37 PM | |||
| Nightline (ABC) * 5 first-run episodes | 3.99 | 863 | -15% |
| After Midnight (CBS) 3 first-run episodes, 2 repeats | 2.83 | 563 | +6% |
| Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC) 4 first-run episodes, 1 repeat | 4.24 | 844 | +1% |
Live+ 3 Ratings — In the Demo (P18-49)
| Avg Share (%) | Avg Viewers (000’s) | Vs Last Wk | |
| 10:00 PM | |||
| Gutfeld! (FNC)† 4 first-run episodes | 4.24 | 394 | +27% |
| Watch What Happens Live (Bravo)* 5 first-run episodes | 1.41 | 149 | +43% |
| 11:00 PM | |||
| The Daily Show (COM)* 4 first-run episodes | 2.72 | 217 | +29% |
| 11:35 PM | |||
| Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC) 4 first-run episodes, 1 repeat | 3.09 | 189 | -14% |
| The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS) 4 first-run episodes, 1 repeat | 3.35 | 203 | +6% |
| The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC) 4 first-run episodes, 1 repeat | 2.64 | 160 | -6% |
| 12:37 PM | |||
| Nightline (ABC) * 5 first-run episodes | 2.29 | 108 | -24% |
| After Midnight (CBS) 3 first-run episodes, 2 repeats | 2.0 | 87 | +2% |
| Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC) 4 first-run episodes, 1 repeat | 2.83 | 124 | -1% |
Ratings data © The Nielsen Company, used under license.
eliminate the 10:00 shows, they are not late night