Weekly Ratings: Kimmel, Gutfeld and Nightline See Big Gains

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.

The lead-up to Donald Trump‘s second inauguration, the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires, and an NFL over-run led to some dramatic shifts in late-night viewership the week of January 13th, 2025.

With ratings at Fox News up for the week overall, Greg Gutfeld‘s late-night styled show was up +10% among total viewers and +24% among viewers 18-49. In what’s become a trend, Gutfeld! was once again the week’s most-watched program in the advertiser-friendly demo on basic cable among all shows and all time periods.

At 11:35pm, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel was back with a bang Monday night following a two-day haitus the week prior due to the L.A. wildfires. Aided by an NFL lead-in, Kimmel handily won Monday night, growing his weekly average by 25% among total viewers, and a whopping 40% among viewers in the demo. That was enough to beat perennial leader CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert among younger viewers, but not among total viewers (at least as measured by viewer numbers alone; the show’s delayed start time on Monday led to it still drawing a larger average share than Colbert for the week.)

It was a similar story at 12:37am, with ABC’s Nightline benefitting from a big news week, the residual effects of Kimmel’s NFL lead-in on Monday, and CBS’s After Midnight being dark the entire week due to the Los Angeles wildfires. In fact, Nightline‘s Monday broadcast was its most-watched in over a year—since 1/1/24. The ABC News show posted double-digit weekly gains, coming in at #1 across both ratings measurements for the third time over the last four weeks.

Watch What Happens Live had a less stellar week, relying as it does on the popularity of the reality programming that it follows. The Andy Cohen-hosted Bravo show shed -7% of its total viewers and -24% of its younger viewers vs the week prior.

Finally, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show made some modest gains of its own, growing its week-over-week numbers by +6% among total viewers, and +4% among younger viewers.

Complete ratings charts for the week of January 13th, 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)†
5 first-run episodes
7.083,516+10%
Watch What Happens Live (Bravo)*
5 first-run episodes
0.67346-7%
11:00 PM
The Daily Show (COM)*
4 first-run episodes
2.25841+6%
11:35 PM
Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC)
4 first-run episodes, 1 repeat
7.091,868+25%
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS)
4 first-run episodes, 1 repeat
6.781,916-11%
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC)
4 first-run episodes, 1 repeat
4.111157-11%
12:37 PM
Nightline (ABC) *
5 first-run episodes
5.051,015+15%
After Midnight (CBS)
5 repeats
2.70533-9%
Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC)
4 first-run episodes, 1 repeat
4.22832-8%
† = airs at 7pm PT, * = 30-minute program

Live+ 3 Ratings — In the Demo (P18-49)

Avg Share
(%)
Avg Viewers
(000’s)
Vs
Last Wk
10:00 PM
Gutfeld! (FNC)†
5 first-run episodes
3.11311+24%
Watch What Happens Live (Bravo)*
5 first-run episodes
1.01104-24%
11:00 PM
The Daily Show (COM)*
4 first-run episodes
2.16168+4%
11:35 PM
Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC)
4 first-run episodes, 1 repeat
3.98220+40%
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS)
4 first-run episodes, 1 repeat
3.24191-3%
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC)
4 first-run episodes, 1 repeat
2.92171-24%
12:37 PM
Nightline (ABC) *
5 first-run episodes
3.24142+27%
After Midnight (CBS)
5 repeats
1.9785-16%
Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC)
4 first-run episodes, 1 repeat
2.89125-31%
† = airs at 7pm PT, * = 30-minute program

Ratings data © The Nielsen Company, used under license.

4 Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Vikki Solt says:

    Gutfeld! is the greatest show since Johnny Carson. So funny

  2. Jim Swanson says:

    I miss the daily show ratings you used to publish.

    1. Jed Rosenzweig says:

      Jim, same here. They’re not gone forever. We’re working on a more streamlined way to post daily ratings.

  3. Gen Bar says:

    10:00 shows are not Late Nite
    should be a separate category